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

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The Vulkan Files’ 5,000 pages of confidential corporate documents reveal insights into a Moscow-based software and cybersecurity company, NTC Vulkan, that builds tools for Russia’s cyber war. Among other things, the Files show how Russian disinformation campaigns or hacking efforts are robust, state-sponsored efforts using the full power of the Russian security state. Craig Timberg, Ellen Nakashima, Hannes Munzinger, and Hakan Tanriverdi report for the Washington Post. 

Russia is seeking to acquire more munitions from North Korea to bolster its war on Ukraine, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday. The development comes as Moscow has sought help from other countries, such as Iran, as it continues to expend equipment and ammunition on the battlefield. Russian President Vladimir Putin would likely send food to Pyongyang in exchange for the munitions. Alexander Ward reports for POLITICO. 

The U.S. imposed sanctions on a Slovakian national accused of trying to broker a weapons deal between Russia and North Korea, the Biden administration said yesterday. Ashot Mkrtychev worked with the support of Russian officials to broker a secret agreement with Pyongyang, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said and added that doing so violated several U.N. Security Council resolutions. Katie Rogers reports for the New York Times. 

Russia has “exhausted all its reserves” in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian commander, Col. Yevhen Mezhevikin, said yesterday. Mezhevikin’s description aligned with those of Ukraine’s most senior military commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhnyi, and his commander of ground forces in the east, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky. Both have said recently that the situation of Bakhmut was stabilizing, even with heavy fighting for some Ukrainian units. Carlotta Gall reports for the New York Times."

lousubcap

Finland cleared to join NATO. 

"Finland finally cleared its last major hurdle on the way to joining the NATO alliance.Turkey's parliament ratified the Nordic nation's bid to become part of the 30-member alliance on Thursday. Finland's neighbor, Sweden, also applied to join NATO shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last February; but the parliaments of both Hungary and Turkey have not yet approvedStockholm's request. 

"As allies, we will give and receive security, [and] we will defend each other," Helsinki's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a statement Thursday, and noted, "Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application."

"I look forward to raising Finland's flag at NATO headquarters" following "the fastest ratification process in NATO's modern history," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement and a video address Friday morning. "Finland has highly capable forces, advanced capabilities, and strong democratic institutions…Together we are stronger and safer," he added. "I look forward to also welcoming Sweden as a full member of the NATO family as soon as possible," Stoltenberg said. 

For the record: Finland shares a 830-mile border with Russia. And that means with the addition of Helsinki to the alliance, NATO borders with Russia will more than double.

By the way: Finnish beermaker Olaf Brewing Company just launched a "new full-member GOLD Edition of the OTAN Olutta beer," which is classified as an IPA; it tastes like "security with a hint of freedom," says Olaf, whose facilities are located "a few dozen miles from the Russian border," according to Reuters, reporting back in May. "And the colors of the label, yellowish gold + blue, are a little nod to our dear neighbors in Sweden—we hope you join us as soon as possible!" Olaf tweeted Friday."

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The killing of pro-Kremlin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in an explosion at a St Petersburg cafe yesterday is being investigated as a “high-profile murder,” authorities have said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, which injured 24 others. Tatarsky reported from the Ukraine front line 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.” Laurence Peter and Olga Ivshina report for BBC News.  A pro-Russian official in Ukraine held Kyiv responsible for the blast, but a top Ukrainian official speculated that internal Russian opposition to the Kremlin’s invasion was to blame.

Russia is scaling up output at critical enterprises of the country’s military-industrial complex, said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Saturday. Shoigu has instructed Russian arms producers to double their production of precision-guided weapons, according to Russian state media. A shortage of shells has been a major reason for Russia’s recent failure to make military gains in Ukraine. Moscow is likely resorting to the use of old munitions stock that had previously been categorized as unfit for deployment in the war, Western officials said. Matthew Luxmoore reports for the Wall Street Journal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military situation around the city of Bakhmut, besieged by Russian forces for months, is “especially hot."

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he would be forced to react if the United Kingdom supplied Ukraine with armour-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium.

Meanwhile, the British defence ministry said excessive alcohol consumption has been the cause of many deaths among Russian forces in Ukraine."

lousubcap

CJCS General Mark Milley on the Russia-Ukraine war:

Ukraine is unlikely to expel all Russian forces from its territory this year, the top U.S. officer said Friday, giving a grim reality check to the expressed goal and hopeful ambitions of policymakers, diplomats, and defense leaders from Washington to Kyiv. 

“I don't think it's likely to be done in the near term for this year,” Gen. Mark Milley said Friday in an interview with Defense One. 

“Zelenskyy has publicly stated many times that the Ukrainian objective is to kick every Russian out of Russian occupied Ukraine. And that is a significant military task. Very, very difficult military task. You're looking at a couple hundred thousand Russians who are still in Russian-occupied Ukraine. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm just saying it's a very difficult task,” the Joint Chiefs chairman said. “But that is their objective. They certainly have a right to that, that is their country. And they are on the moral high ground here.”

In November, Milley said in a press conference that the probability Ukraine was going to retake Crimea and expel all Russian forces “anytime soon is not high.” His comment stirred speculation that the United States was pressuring Zelenskyy toward negotiating territorial concessions with Russia.

On Friday, Milley said Russia “has failed” strategically, operationally, “and now they’re failing tactically, as well.” That followed his testimony to the House Armed Services Committee that Russian forces were “getting slaughtered” by Ukrainian troops, due in part to poor training and human-wave tactics. "

Gulfcoastguy

The thing is that if Ukraine doesn’t evict Russians from Crimea they could find themselves under naval embargo at anytime.

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained in Russia last week, has appealed his arrest, according to Russian state news agencies. A date has yet to be set for the hearing. Fewer than 1% of defendants in such cases manage to win an acquittal, a statistic cited widely by legal analysts and the U.S. State Department. Carly Olson reports for the New York Times. 

Darya Trepova has been detained for the murder of Russian pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Russian media reports say Trepova, 26, handed Tatarsky a statuette which was believed to contain the explosives that killed him and injured more than 30 people. Russian officials say the “act of terror” was planned and organized from the territory of Ukraine, and that the suspect is a supporter of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), headed by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Robert Greenall reports for BBC News. 

Finland will become a NATO member today. The move will reshape European security, extending the NATO alliance’s reach to the continent’s Arctic frontier and doubling its land border with Russia. Rachel Pannett and Leo Sands report for the Washington Post. 

The Russian paramilitary Wagner group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said he has raised a Russian flag in Bakhmut on Sunday. Prigozhin stated that this flag-raising indicated that by “legal norms,” his forces had taken the city. He conceded that Ukrainian troops continue to hold western districts of the city. Jared Malsin reports for the Wall Street Journal."

lousubcap

A bit more on Russia-Ukraine today:

Fighting intensifies around Bakhmut. Troops provided by the Wagner mercenary group have reportedly pressed into the crossroads city in eastern Ukraine, even raising a Russian flag there, the group's CEO said. But Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed that Ukrainian forces still hold western parts of the city. (Wall Street Journal)

Russia extends trenches, defenses in Crimea. In possible anticipation of a Ukrainian attempt to take back the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014, Russia forces are digging miles of trenches and installing hundreds of concrete barriers. The Washington Post explores the defenses using satellite imagery, here.

lousubcap

China-Russia-Ukraine; a summary from the past several days during the outage:

The Biden administration pledged an additional $2.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine yesterday (4/4). The package includes about $500 million in equipment from U.S. military stocks for near-term transfer, plus $2.1 billion in arms that the administration will order using a congressionally approved fund known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, U.S. officials said. Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton report for the Washington Post. 

The “no limit” relationship between China and Russia is “nothing but rhetoric,” said China’s ambassador to the E.U., Fu Cong, ahead of Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission visit to China today.These comments were made as E.U. leaders struggle to balance their deep trade ties with China against U.S. pressure to toughen their policies, especially in light of China’s support for Russia since the war began. Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Steven Erlanger report for the New York Times.

From Thursday-

"Poland’s President Andrzej Duda pledged to send 14 more MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine yesterday. Once Poland receives the new Korean and U.S. fighter jets it has ordered, Duda said, “We will be able to transfer our entire remaining MiG fleet to Ukraine, should the need arise.” Christopher Miller, Raphael Minder, and Barbara Erling report for the Financial Times. 

Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday to discuss expanding military and economic ties. Their close alliance has allowed Russia to bolster Belarus’ readiness to deploy nuclear weaponry. The Russian minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu, said on Tuesday that Russia had delivered to Belarus an Iskander-M missile system capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. Neil MacFarquhar reports for the New York Times. "

Friday's snapshot:

"Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed willingness to speak to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but only when “conditions and time are right,” according to E.U. chief Ursula von der Leyen yesterday. Xi did not mention a possible conversation with Zelenskyy in his own comments after meeting von der Leyen. Michel Rose and Laurie Chen report for Reuters. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping showed no sign of changing his position over Russia’s war on Ukraine after yesterday’s talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. After what French officials described as “frank and constructive” talks that lasted an hour and a half, Xi had not changed his public position, saying only, “China is willing to jointly appeal with France to the international community to remain rational and calm.” Clea Caulcutt, Jamil Anderlini, and Stuart Lau report for POLITICO. 

Ukrainian officials in the Zelenskyy administration reiterated their vow to liberate all of Ukraine’s territory yesterday after some mixed messaging on their stance on recovering Crimea from Russian occupation this week. Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser, reaffirmed that the basis for any peace negotiations had to be a “complete withdrawal” of Russian forces from Ukraine’s borders as they were internationally recognized after the fall of the Soviet Union – including Crimea. Anushka Patil reports for the New York Times."

Monday:

"The Ukrainian military may run out of anti-aircraft missiles by May, according to leaked Pentagon reports. Once its missile systems are expended, most of Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure outside the Kyiv region and two other areas in southwestern Ukraine will no longer have an air-defense cover. Col. Yuri Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, confirmed that Ukraine’s air defenses face a severe challenge and said that Ukraine urgently needs its Western partners to speed up assistance. Yaroslav Trofimov reports for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, according to a leaked U.S. intelligence document. The leaks suggest that Egypt was willing to supply these munitions “because it was the least Egypt could do to repay Russia for unspecified help earlier.” A U.S. government official said that Egypt, a key ally in the Middle East and a primary recipient of U.S. aid, is not believed to have delivered any rockets. Evan Hill, Missy Ryan, Siobhán O’Grady, and Samuel Oakford report for the Washington Post. 

Russia is using “scorched earth” tactics as it fights to take Bakhmut, a top Ukrainian military commander, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said yesterday. Moscow’s forces have, in recent weeks, steadily advanced in grinding house-to-house combat accompanied by heavy artillery and mortar fire, seeking to claim their first significant military victory in months. Matthew Luxmoore reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

The State Department yesterday designated Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” launching a broad government effort to exert pressure on Russia to free him. Gershkovich is held on an accusation of espionage. His case now shifts to a State Department section known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which is focused on negotiating for the release of hostages. Vivian Salama and William Mauldin report for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

Update on Russia-Ukraine today:

Russia continues to slowly grind its way through the destroyed Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, consolidating incremental advances into the eastern city that have gradually accumulated since January or so. According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, "Geolocated footage posted on April 9 and 10 shows that Russian forces made marginal advances northwest of Khromove (2km west of Bakhmut), in southwest Bakhmut, and north of Sacco i Vanzetti (15km north of Bakhmut)." The Wall Street Journal conveyed similar hard-fought progress by the invading forces, according to Matthew Luxmoore's dispatch Monday from the region. 

Russia's Wagner mercenaries also claim to have beheaded a Ukrainian soldier and placed his head on a spike inside Bakhmut, ISW reported, citing social media postings. Other "users recalled similar instances of skulls mounted on spikes in Popasna, Luhansk Oblast, where Wagner troops operated over spring–summer of 2022," according to ISW.  

Developing: Ukraine says its tank crews have finished training on Britain's Challenger 2 tanks, and those soldiers are now headed back to the battlefield from the UK. In late March, Kyiv's military received several of the 14 promised tanks from the Brits, who announced the transfer back in January. 

The Ukrainians will now "return to their homeland better equipped, but to no less danger,"British military chief Ben Wallace said after the training finished. "We will continue to stand by them and do all we can to support Ukraine for as long as it takes," Wallace added. See video of some of that tank training posted to YouTube two weeks ago, here. 

New: Ukraine also says it has fully liberated the Sumy oblast, which borders Russia to the northeast. It's unclear how many Russian forces were remaining in the region, and it's impossible to verify Kyiv's claim, which was sourced to its top uniformed officer, Gen. Valery Zaluzhnyi. 

Russia seems to be prioritizing its occupation forces around the Donetsk town of Marinka, and appears to be "expending significant resources for minimal gains," according to the British military, writing Monday on Twitter. The town "has been fought over since 2014 and has been largely destroyed by artillery exchanges," according to the Brits. It's important to Moscow (and Ukraine) because "It commands the approaches to Donetsk and the key H15 road," the Brits said Monday.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the U.S. doesn't yet believe a Ukrainian counteroffensive can win back all the territory occupied by Russian forces. That's according to those leaked documents, as reported by the Washington Post on Monday. Such a feat would be an incredibly impressive achievement anyway, since Russian forces occupy nearly a fifth of Ukraine, which after all is the largest country in Europe. 

The U.S. military based its alleged assessment on "force generation and sustainment shortfalls" for Kyiv; that includes personnel, equipment, and ammunition shortages, which are certainly plausible given 14 consecutive months fending off Russian tanks, artillery, drones, and hypersonic missiles. "

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that they had spoken to their Ukrainian counterparts in a bid to project calm following leaks on the state of the Ukrainian military. Blinken also said he had spoken to unnamed U.S. allies to “reassure them about our own commitment to safeguarding intelligence.” Michael Crowley report for the New York Times.

Canada yesterday agreed to send more military aid to Ukraine and impose new sanctions over Russia’s invasion after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Toronto. Canada will send 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns, and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine and impose new sanctions targeting 14 Russian individuals and 34 entities. During the meeting, Trudeau’s official website was shut down, and the Canadian spy service acknowledged “some” other government pages had also been offline. Trudeau said the incident was an “unsurprising” act by Russian hackers. Ismail Shakil and Steve Scherer report for Reuters. 

Russia’s lower house of parliament yesterday tightened conscription laws, making it almost impossible for Russians to dodge conscription in the future. The upper house is expected to adopt the measure today and send it to President Vladimir Putin for approval. The law provides for electronic military summonses with bans on draftees leaving the country, making it possible to recruit thousands more men to fight — even as the Kremlin denies plans for a controversial new mobilization. Robyn Dixon reports for the Washington Post.  

South Korea has agreed to lend the United States 500,000 artillery shells that could give Washington greater flexibility to supply Ukraine with ammunition, an unidentified South Korean government source is reported to have said today. South Korea decided to lend the ammunition instead of selling it to minimize the possibility of using South Korean shells in the Ukraine conflict. South Korean law forbids supplying weapons to countries engaged in conflict. Hyonhee Shin reports for Reuters."

Edit to add the following:

"The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his forces controlled more than 80 percent of Bakhmut. The now ruined eastern Ukrainian town has seen the heaviest fighting of the nearly 14-month war.

Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed leader of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, said the region is on guard for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive."

lousubcap

The challenges to learning continue: (I copied the below-as I am not that learned!)

"On a case by case basis, one could find examples where getting a heads-up on the subject matter being discussed in a university classroom might be helpful. But the broader trend of requiring trigger warnings and silencing alternative opinions is a much bigger issue, and some universities are starting to say that quiet part out loud, regardless of whose offended.  A member of Cornell's undergraduate student assembly believed her friend, who had recently testified about being sexually assaulted, "deserved a heads-up about the upsetting material. That day, she drafted a resolution urging instructors to provide warnings on the syllabus about 'traumatic content' that might be discussed in class, including sexual assault, self-harm and transphobic violence. The resolution was unanimously approved by the assembly late last month. Less than a week after it was submitted to the administration for approval, Martha E. Pollack, the university president, vetoed it."

 If you're gonna be triggered about something, be triggered about the suppression of content, not the sharing of it. "A small Texas county is weighing whether to shut down its public library systemafter a federal judge ruled the commissioners violated the constitution by banning a dozen mostly children's books and ordered that they be put back in circulation." And in another situation related to pushback against book bans, Missouri House Republicans vote to defund libraries.

A link to the Missouri article:

https://heartlandsignal.com/2023/04/11/missouri-house-republicans-vote-to-defund-libraries/?utm_  "

nolaegghead

Defunding libraries is obviously one of the first steps to make America Great Again, and slay the world economically. 

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

“Negotiations to end the conflict are unlikely during 2023 in all considered scenarios,” according to leaked intelligence reports. A stalemate is described in the document as “the most likely scenario.” A stalemate could lead to a “full mobilization” of Ukraine’s remaining eligible population. In a stalemate, Ukraine would probably intensify its reliance on strikes in Russian territory, the document says, which some U.S. officials fear could compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict or prompt China to provide lethal support to Russia. John Hudson reports for the Washington Post. 

Russia’s military leadership is distracted by infighting over the war in Ukraine and grappling with the outsize role played by the paramilitary organization Wagner Group, according to leaked intelligence reports. According to the leaks, Valeriy Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s General Staff, reportedly ordered a stop to munitions supplies to Wagner even as it suffered significant losses in Bakhmut. The leaks further suggest that the Kremlin had to intervene to ease tensions between Wagner and the Russian military. Matthew Luxmoore and Jared Malsin report for the Wall Street Journal. 

U.S.-made smart bombs are being jammed by Russia in Ukraine, causing them to miss their targets, according to leaked intelligence reports and confirmed by a Defense Department official. Lara Seligman reports for POLITICO."

lousubcap

This is a good snapshot of where this country is today-and it is sad...from The Atlantic-

John Hendrickson STAFF WRITER

The $1.6 billion Fox News defamation trial is about to begin. More than Rupert Murdoch’s pocketbook is at stake—practically the entire media industry is watching with schadenfreude, and maybe even a little dread.

The word of the week is malice. Did Fox News act with “actual malice” in broadcasting a litany of lies about Dominion Voting Systems’ machines in the days and weeks after the 2020 presidential election? On Monday, a jury in Wilmington, Delaware, will hear opening arguments in the landmark case.

Very few defamation suits go to trial. The evidence against Fox is overwhelming. Some of the network’s biggest names, including Tucker Carlson, had their private text messages surface in the discovery process. “The software **** is absurd,” Carlson wrote to his producer. Even Murdoch, in his deposition, personally cast doubt on former President Donald Trump’s claims about a “stolen election.” He also acknowledged that several of his hosts “endorsed” the Dominion conspiracy theory. Nevertheless, the Fox brass kept allowing lunacy about Dominion to transpire on its airwaves. (No, Dominion does not have secret ties to the family of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for instance.) Last year, Dominion CEO John Poulos told 60 Minutes that he and his employees have faced threats and harassment as a result of the lies.

The unfortunate reality is that news organizations get stories wrong all the time. The sheer thought of landing their work on the Corrections page can keep journalists up at night. David Simon captured this perpetual anxiety during Season 5 of The Wire, in an episode fittingly titled “Unconfirmed Reports.” In a particularly memorable scene, Gus Haynes, the grizzled city editor of The Baltimore Sun, springs out of bed and calls the paper’s night desk, asking a fellow editor to make sure he didn’t accidentally transpose two details in the course of futzing with a story. (He didn’t.) Such a mistake would have been just that, a mistake—which is qualitatively different from acting with malice, or with heightened disregard for the truth, the burden of proof in a defamation suit like Dominion’s.

Last year, Sarah Palin’s defamation suit against The New York Times was dismissed because of Palin’s basic failure to prove her case. Palin had sued the paper over an editorial that contained inaccuracies, but Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that Palin hadn’t provided adequate evidence to meet the legal standard required of a public figure suing for libel. The Times did not live up to its high standards, but neither did it act with actual malice.

While it’s tempting to grab some popcorn and root against Fox next week, the fact that the network known for propaganda is furiously (if unsuccessfully) invoking the First Amendment in its own defense complicates things. In our present era of dystopian book banning and library defunding, journalists and citizens alike should be wary of any legal precedent that could potentially narrow existing First Amendment freedoms.

No, Fox does not have a “right” to peddle lies about a technology company from Toronto. But high-profile cases such as this one can have a perilous downstream effect. Future lawyers can cite even part of a ruling to bend a judge or jury toward their side in a contentious case. We should all be hoping for truth and justice to prevail, while simultaneously praying that we don’t keep seeing more First Amendment(ish) cases going to trial in the years to come. The best press is an empowered press, so long as it’s not reckless.

To keep matters interesting: The case may still settle before Monday morning. Fox has already suffered some behind-the-scenes exposure (how’s that for a mixed metaphor?) and may want to avoid any additional texts or emails becoming public. Murdoch, Carlson, and other household Fox names could also be forced to testify.

If the trial does last its expected four weeks, I’ll be curious to see the extent to which the people who drew jury duty understand the nuances in question. Eight years ago, Marvin Gaye’s estate successfully sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, claiming that Thicke and Williams’s mega-hit “Blurred Lines” plagiarized Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” Each set of song lyrics is different, but they are sonically similar in terms of “groove” or “feel.” In a surprise to music-industry experts, Gaye’s estate won the verdict, but the jury did not find the offense to be “willful.” Those stakes were no doubt lower than the ones in the Dominion case, but the jury will have to parse similar details—namely the difference between an incorrect statement and a malicious lie.

Meanwhile, the next presidential election is just getting rolling, with Trump and Joe Biden poised for a rematch. After a reported “soft ban,” Fox is giving Trump plenty of airtime again. This week, he sat down for an interview with Carlson to discuss his first indictment. Carlson let the former president ramble at length, and even praised his statements as “moderate, sensible, and wise.” Yet, as we learned in the plethora of Dominion evidence, Carlson once texted of Trump, “I hate him passionately.”"

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The leaked intelligence reports “have no operational significance” on a critical Ukrainian offensive planned for the coming weeks, said Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser. The United States and its allies are equipping and training nine Ukrainian brigades for the offensive, while the Ukrainian military is preparing three additional brigades by itself. Podolyak said the timing of the attack depended on equipment and personnel being ready. James Marson and Yaroslav Trofimov report for the Wall Street Journal. 

China approved the “provision of lethal aid” to Russia earlier this year and planned to disguise military equipment as civilian items, according to a U.S. intercept of Russian intelligence revealed in the leaked intelligence reports. “We have not seen evidence that China has transferred weapons or provided lethal assistance to Russia. But we remain concerned and are continuing to monitor closely,” a senior administration official said. A senior defense official agreed with that assessment. Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan report for the Washington Post. 

Intense Russian artillery bombardment has forced Ukrainian forces into an “orderly withdrawal” in Bakhmut, according to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence today. “Russia has re-energized its assault on the Donetsk oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian ministry and Wagner group have improved cooperation,” the Ministry has stated. Martin Belam reports for the Guardian. 

China would not sell weapons to any country involved in the conflict and would regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use, China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, said during a news conference with his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock today. Baerbock said that as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China bore a special responsibility for helping end the conflict. AP News reports."

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1646912459477794817?s=20

lousubcap

None of the sources I cite here are affiliated with Fox and for good reason. 

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

None of the sources I cite here are affiliated with Fox and for good reason. 

I’ve yet to see a good explanation for why Tucker seems so willing to carry water for the Russians.  

lousubcap

My not very insightful thoughts on Carlson's water-boy casts: he is playing hard to the anti Joe movement.  Since POTUS was the key figure in getting NATO into lock-step and the $$ and weapons pouring in, he's the main but indirect target.  At least it sounds good to me on a Saturday AM. 

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law a measure allowing for electronic draft notices, making it harder for conscripts to flee a summons. Last month, Putin also signed a decree authorizing a routine spring conscription effort to call up about 147,000 citizens for service. Brad Dress reports for The Hill. 

Chinese components are being found in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, told Reuters. Because of Western sanctions, there are fewer Western-made components, leaving a gap that China is filling, Vlasiuk said. Matthias Williams and John O’Donnell report for Reuters.

Edit to add the following 2 paras regarding the role of China:

Chinese officials are in damage control mode after allegations Beijing agreed to secretly arm Russia with lethal weapons, according to those leaked documents as reported by the Washington Post Thursday morning. Top officials in Kyiv told Reuters on Friday that they’re finding more and more Chinese parts in Russian military equipment used in Ukraine. That includes Chinese-made components allegedly “found in a navigation system in Orlan aerial drones that had previously used a Swiss system.” There were also alleged “Chinese parts in the fire control system in Russian tanks that had earlier used French-made parts,” according to Reuters. 

Beijing’s foreign minister directly addressed the matter Friday, promising, “China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict, and manage and control the exports of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations.” AP has more on all that from Beijing, here.

The Russian defence ministry said Wagner units captured two more city blocks in the northwest and southeastern parts of the ruined city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military said its troops and Russian forces were fighting extraordinarily bloody battles in Bakhmut, but said pro-Kyiv forces were still holding on.

The death toll from a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukraine city of Sloviansk has risen to 11.

Russian politician and head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin claimed four people were killed and 10 injured in Ukrainian shelling of a town in Russian-controlled Donetsk. A seven-year-old girl was among those wounded in Yasynuvata, he added.

Russia’s regular spring military draft campaign is proceeding as scheduled, and there are no plans to send out mass electronic notices under a new system just signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, a top official, Colonel Andrei Biryukov said on Saturday."

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update: (A little thin today).

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited occupied parts of the Ukrainian region of Kherson. Putin is also thought to have visited the Luhansk region. It is unknown when the trip to Kherson occurred, but at one point in footage released of the trip, Putin refers to the Easter holiday “coming up,” suggesting that it happened some days ago. Kathryn Armstrong reports for BBC News. 

Slovakia has handed over all 13 MiG-29 fighter jets it had pledged to Ukraine, the Slovak Ministry of Defence said.

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Defense ministers and senior military officials from the U.S. and some 50 partner nations helping Ukraine fight Russia will convene Friday at Ramstein Air Base for the latest round of talks.

The meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, hosted for the fourth time at Ramstein by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, may be a time for the U.S. to reassure allies following the leak of classified documents, a number of which relate to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Egypt paused a plan to secretly supply rockets to Russia last month following talks with senior U.S. officials and instead decided to produce artillery ammunition for Ukraine, according to five leaked U.S. intelligence documents that have not been previously reported.

The Washington Post last week reported on another document that exposed a covert scheme by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi in February to provide Russia with up to 40,000 122mm Sakr-45 rockets, which can be used in Russian multiple-launch rocket launchers. Sisi instructed his subordinates to keep the project secret “to avoid problems with the West,” the document said.

But the new documents, which The Post obtained from a trove of material allegedly posted on Discord by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, appear to show Sisi in early March backing away from plans to supply Moscow, a move that would have represented a major rebuke to Cairo’s most generous Western ally, the United States.

Egypt, though it has a long-standing diplomatic and military relationship with Russia, has for decades been a principal American ally in the Middle East and receives more than $1 billion a year in U.S. military aid."

lousubcap

Some debt ceiling information linked here:
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2023/04/14/five_facts_on_the_debt_ceiling_893793.html?mc_cid=bc8f20bb57&mc_eid=53ef3a76b6  

lousubcap

To move far off the political discourse that runs thru this post:
Buffalo Bills Demar Hamlin fully cleared for back on the field- The tackle was right at the wrong time for heart rhythm and a total hit and not a medical issue. Fortunately for him all was in place for recovery. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36224496/bills-damar-hamlin-ok-play-suffering-cardiac-arrest

Most who have the timing hit are not so lucky.  

lousubcap

Thank you once again dislikeowarts. You may want to check your auto-response when CHEETO or you man-friend AR-15 male member is not in the direct line of fire.
However, I don't really GAF.  

SamIAm2

@lousubcap  - I just painted a target on my future posts; liked all your posts dislikowart marked. Pretty sure he has another account so he can doublewart posts. If everybody likes all your disliked posts we can get them all on the Best of Page and then maybe the Buffalo will take notice and remove those accounts. 

lousubcap

@SamIAm2 - This not worth any effort.  Regardless of post content the fact that I completely cannot stand and then loathe CHEETO elicits the auto response.
BTW have I ever mentioned that CHEETO makes Nixon look like a saint??

nolaegghead

…or maybe John is running a “false flag” operation….

nah,

how, without a proper troll account?

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

Russia is buying Western military-use electronics via Armenia, Kazakhstan, and other countries, despite sanctions, according to senior tax and trade officials. U.S. officials argue that the sweeping sanctions they have imposed in partnership with 38 other governments have severely damaged Russia’s military capacity. While direct sales of chips to Russia from the United States and its allies have plummeted to zero, trade data shows that other countries have stepped in to provide Russia with some of what it needs, particularly China. Ana Swanson and Matina Stevis-Gridneff report for the New York Times. 

Russia hopes to shore up support in Latin America for its war in Ukraine, with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov visiting Brazil before arriving in Venezuela yesterday as part of a four-country tour. Lavrov is also expected to travel to Nicaragua and Cuba. Luciana Magalhaes and Samantha Pearson report for the Wall Street Journal.

The Group of Seven (G7) industrial powers, meeting in Japan, said they were committed to intensifying sanctions against Russia and would support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” as it defends itself.

China’s defence minister Li Shangfu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu agreed to continue close high-level communications and improve the cooperation mechanism between the two countries’ militaries.

Swiss President Alain Berset said the country condemned Moscow’s war in Ukraine in the strongest terms and was committed to providing humanitarian aid and implementing sanctions against Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to discuss the Black Sea grain deal with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a visit to New York next week, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported.

Poland agreed to lift a ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain and food products but Ukraine said a wartime deal allowing it to safely ship grain from Black Sea ports was still under threat."

lousubcap

More on Russia-Ukraine today (4/19):

Ukraine's military appears to be gearing up for a counteroffensive. "Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," the country's defense minister Oleksii Reznikov announced Wednesday—about three months after Ukraine sent about 65 troops to Oklahoma's Fort Sill to train on the systems. "Our air defenders have mastered them as fast as they could, and our partners have kept their word," Reznikov tweeted Wednesday morning. 

Germany sent the latest Patriot system to Kyiv to help Ukraine "defend itself against Russia's indiscriminate missile attacks on civilians and infrastructure," Germany's Ambassador to the UK Miguel Berger tweeted. The system can engage enemy aircraft, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles at a distance of about 60 miles and up to an altitude of about 18 miles.

But Russia has been increasingly using glide bombs to hit targets inside Ukraine. And Patriot systems aren't known to be as effective against glide bombs, which are released by jets at a significant distance beyond the Patriot's 60-mile range. Newsweek has a bit more about all that, reporting last week, here. 

Also new: U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles have arrived in Ukraine as well. Kyiv's military tweeted an image of the systems painted in a new color scheme on Monday. A Pentagon official on Tuesday confirmed to The Drive that the vehicles had indeed arrived. The official wouldn't say when they arrived or how many are now in Ukraine; more than 100 are expected. Read more, here. 

Germany has also sent Ukraine its second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems officials in Berlin pledged last year, according to Der Spiegel. The system has a range of about two dozen miles and altitude coverage about a dozen miles high. The first of those four arrived in October. Egypt has even reportedly "ceded" one of the units it was going to buy from Germany, Der Spiegel reported. Sweden has sent 12 IRIS-T launchers (the system has three main vehicular components—a launch pad, a radar, and a lead vehicle) to Germany for processing and shipping to Ukraine; but finding the other elements hasn't proven terribly easy just yet. 

Why won't the U.S. send Ukraine long-range missiles like ATACMS, or jets like F-16s? The Pentagon's top policy official offered some insight during an event Monday hosted by Foreign Policy. "We have prioritized what Ukraine needed most in that moment," Colin Kahl said. The country's needs are predominantly three-fold at the moment, he said: air defense, artillery, and mechanized, or armored forces. But U.S. support is "not unlimited," he said. "We could spend all of [allocated funds] on F-16s and those aircraft would arrive 1.5 years from now," he explained. "But those aircraft would be completely irrelevant to this spring and summer," he said. "We have to make those hard choices," he told the audience. Read more at FP, here. "