Ukraine will not be connecting its electricity grid to the Belarus grid after it had completed testing, its energy minister told Ukrainian TV on Saturday.
Earlier, Ukraine has started testing its power grid in a step to link it up with a European network and decouple from a grid linked to Belarus and other former Soviet States.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/26/2022
18:53 ||
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#1
Oh lord — you sent me down a dance rabbit hole, Besoeker! :-) I purely miss having the energy to dance with Mr. Wife as we used to, though we were never nearly as good as that.
How fortunate that upward of 90% of all scientific research does not result in a useable product, because as described this is seriously problematic.
[NewsWars] New research funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aims to develop a needle-less vaccine that can spread like a virus rather than have to be injected, leaving no way for anyone to remain unvaccinated.
The goal is to create a vaccine that people "catch" without their consent, and without the need for any injections. The vaccine would be passed from one person to the next like a cold, in other words.
A paper on the subject claims that contagious vaccines will be slightly less deadly than traditional injections, "but not non-lethal: they can still kill."
"Some people will die who would otherwise have lived, though fewer people die overall," it further explains. "The other issue is there is no consent (for vaccination) from the majority of patients."
Those in support of the concept say it is no different than artificial water fluoridation, which involves mass-medicating of the general public with a drug that supposedly prevents tooth decay.
#3
It will be called Windows Rx "crime against humanity." And, with any justice on the planet at all, punished accordingly, down to the lowest level toady involved.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2022 11:36
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#1
On Thursday, President Joe Biden laid out new sanctions that he said would "degrade" Russia's "aerospace industry, including their space program", among other things.
Still buying Russian oil, Joe? 565,000 barrels per day?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2022 15:08
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#2
So now Space Cowboys is real?
Dammitman! The 2000s movies were not instruction manuals!
[ZeroHedge] While the Pentagon is more concerned about deploying National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. to help deal with upcoming trucker convoy protests, the situation at the southern border continues to spiral out of control as Border Patrol agents have been placed on high alert that Mexican drug cartels may be plotting to assassinate them.
The Washington Examiner reports Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents stationed near Fronton, Texas, between Miguel Aleman and Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, Mexico, should wear full kevlar (commonly known as body armor) and be equipped with long-arm guns, such as lightweight semi-automatic rifles, due to new information drug cartels are "discussing killing U.S. law enforcement personnel" in the area.
In mid-October, a Fox News reporter tweeted a shocking video of suspected cartel members firing machine guns over a National Guard observation.
The Washington Examiner explains cartel members are now dressed in military fatigues and armed with AK-47 rifles.
"What's been happening actually this past week is we see a group of individuals that are coming across — they're smuggling people — but what they're doing is they come across the river into the U.S. and smuggle people, they go back into Mexico, and they get their weapons," Texas DPS spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez said.
[JustTheNews] Ketanji Brown Jackson's defense of Gitmo detainees and criticism of U.S. government likely to be spotlighted in confirmation process..
President Biden's nominee for the Supreme Court represented suspected terrorists when she was a federal public defender, going well beyond a bare-bones defense to lambaste the U.S. government for some if its counterterrorism policies and broader approach to the War on Terror.
Biden on Friday nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.
Jackson's record will no doubt be heavily scrutinized in the coming days as the Senate prepares for its confirmation hearings. Perhaps no aspect of her past legal work will come under more scrutiny than her advocacy on behalf of prisoners detained at the Guantanamo Bay military prison as enemy combatants for their alleged role in terrorist activities.
During her time in the federal public defender's office, Jackson represented Guantanamo detainees who challenged their imprisonment in a federal court in Washington, D.C.
One of the most prominent cases involved Jackson representing Khiali-Gul, who the Defense Department said was a Taliban intelligence officer in charge of a terrorist cell planning to attack a U.S. base in Afghanistan in 2002. He may have also met with Osama bin Laden in November 2001, according to government documents.
The Defense Department assessed that if released Gul would immediately "seek out prior associates and reengage in hostilities and extremist support activities."
Gul said he was innocent, claiming he had a job in the Afghan government and helped Americans.
During Jackson's confirmation hearings for her current position last year and to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2012, Republican senators grilled the nominee on her work for Guantanamo Bay detainees. Jackson, whose brother served in Iraq, responded she was just doing her job and public duty.
"In all of those situations, the views that were expressed were the views of my clients that I represented them in that capacity, and the briefs did not necessarily represent my personal views with regard to the War on Terror or anything else," she said in 2012.
Nine years later, as part of her appeals court confirmation process, Jackson told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was "keenly and personally mindful of the tragic and deplorable circumstances that gave rise to the U.S. government's apprehension and detention of the persons who were secured at Guantanamo Bay."
However, in the Gul case, Jackson went beyond simply defending her client against terrorism charges and attacked the conduct of the U.S. government, accusing it of torturing prisoners while condemning the George W. Bush administration's War on Terror policies.
For example, Jackson claimed Gul was treated inhumanely at Guantanamo, arguing the military treated Guantanamo detainees the same as prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where U.S. government personnel abused and humiliated some of the inmates.
"Many of the most egregious interrogation techniques used in the Abu Ghraib detention center and other detention facilities in Iraq — such as the use of aggressive dogs to intimidate detainees, sexual humiliation, stress positions, and sensory deprivation — were pioneered at Guantanamo," Jackson wrote in a petition she filed in 2005 on Gul's behalf.
However, as the Washington Free Beacon noted, a Pentagon inspector general report from 2005 rejected that assessment, as did Vice Admiral Albert Church in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
While defending Gul, Jackson also accused government lawyers of ethical breaches, and in 2006 she asked the judge presiding over the case to sanction Justice Department attorneys over the government's response to detainee suicides.
In June 2006, three Guantanamo detainees committed suicide by hanging themselves in their cells. The suicides came shortly after an uprising in which prisoners attacked guards with fan blades and broken light fixtures. Rear Admiral Harry Harris, who commanded Guantanamo at the time, called the suicides a coordinated protest.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigated the suicides, fearing more would come or inmates would attack Guantanamo guards. In the process of probing a potential conspiracy, the NCIS seized personal papers from some detainees, including Gul, some of which were legal materials protected by attorney-client privilege.
Ultimately, Gul was repatriated to his native Afghanistan in 2014. It's unclear whether he returned to extremism as the Pentagon warned he would if released from Guantanamo.
When Jackson left the government for private practice in 2007, she continued to advocate on behalf of Guantanamo detainees.
In 2008, Jackson was a lawyer at Morrison & Foerster and got involved in the highly controversial Supreme Court case, Boumediene v. Bush, which had profound legal implications for the War on Terror.
"Do we treat terrorism with a war paradigm of justice or a criminal paradigm: Do we treat terrorists like war criminals or bank robbers?" That, according to Burlingame, was the central question of the case, in which Guantanamo detainees asserted a constitutional right to challenge their imprisonment in federal court.
The Supreme Court chose bank robbers: In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that Guantanamo prisoners had a right to the writ of habeus corpus under the U.S. Constitution.
Jackson and two other lawyers filed an amicus brief on behalf of retired federal judges who backed the Guantanamo prisoners. In the brief, Jackson argued that some decisions to detain individuals were based on statements extracted under torture and that efforts by the U.S. government to review these decisions weren't sufficient to stop the problem.
[ZBlog] Luckily, MSNBC seemed to be in a commercial loop, so I broke free and went over to Fox News, which has fallen into an alternative reality. In this new reality, it is the year 2000 and the chicken hawks are at their zenith. Instead of Saddam Hussein as the next Hitler, it is Putin. They are all saying "Keev" now too. The amusing thing is that when these simpletons say it, they stumble, because they have not had enough time to practice saying this weird new word in front of the mirror.
Like the goofy English pundits on the BBC claiming to know the mind of Trump, the current pundits all claim to know the mind of Vladimir Putin. Of course, they tell us that he is the evil monster they need to justify the warmongering. You see, if Americans do not accept ten-dollar gasoline and breadlines, Putin will march all the way to Paris, just like you know who, in what always feels like yesterday for these people. You must sacrifice for their principles.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2022
06:52 ||
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#1
Nice.
So, Keev is the new Mask Up?
Filling the audio spectrum with jabber to prevent conversation, absolutely. Getting my wife to turn off the tube and look around after week 4 of 2 weeks was a real Bergeron moment.
#2
Apparently, Tucker Carlson is the exception. A guy like Tucker lives like a serious lecturer employed by the traveling circus. Even if you like his content, it is hard to appreciate it over the sound of freaks and carnies.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2022 18:12
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#3
Hannity blasts Biden spending weekend in Delaware as Russians attack Ukrainian capital
Being as how I don't trust Biden one little bit, I think I'd just as soon have him in Delaware taking a nap on his couch as anywhere else. No matter what it is that Hannity or anyone else thinks that Biden should be doing, Biden would fuck it up.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/26/2022 13:12
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#4
Probably the least brand damaging place to put him. Can't have him picking corn out of his teeth, and definitely don't want him answering questions, but it still does not broadcast, "We are serious people in a serious situation you should take seriously."
[Amac] A new report from Pew Research shows that the sharpest drop in approval for President Joe Biden is among the Democratic Party’s most loyal and consistent supporters — Black protestants.
In March 2021, shortly after he took office, Biden’s support among Black protestants stood at 92%. By January 2022, this was down to 65%, a drop of 27 points.
Over the same period, overall national approval for the president, per Gallup, was down from 54% to 40% — 14 points. About half the drop among Black protestants.
Other polls among all Black voters tell the same story.
An NBC poll shows Black approval for Biden dropping from 83% last April to 64% now. A Quinnipiac University poll shows Black approval during Biden’s first year in office dropping from 78% to 57%.
What’s going on? Should Democratic strategists be worried that a sea-change is occurring among voters on whom they could always most depend?
Trying to define some new grand reality is always a dangerous game in political analysis.
But what we can do is note two major areas of great concern to Black Americans where they have reason to be dissatisfied with the leadership they see in Washington.
[Aviationist] As the sun rises on day three of the Ukrainian war with Russia, reports have surfaced that two Russian Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transports were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. Russia has not acknowledged the loss of any of its Il-76 aircraft.
On Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, Ukrainian air defenses claimed to have shot down one Russian Il-76 transport near Vasylkiv, south of the capital in Kyiv. Ukrainian reports claimed the aircraft was carrying a "landing force" but did not specify any number of casualties or survivors from the reported incident.
The use of the Il-76 transport aircraft along with specially trained airfield seizure troops similar to U.S. Army Rangers is known as part of Russian military doctrine.
Following reports of this first Il-76 shoot-down incident, a "second Il-76" was reported to have been shot down over Bila Tserkya. The report originated from the Ukrainian State Special Communications Agency. Early reports did not suggest what mission this aircraft may have been performing and no specific reports of casualties or survivors has been provided as of this hour.
Both reports were later confirmed, at around 04.30UTC by AP:
[Moscow Times] A military transport plane with six people on board vanished from radars in Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk region, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Wednesday. crashed Stealth Mode
The An-26 was performing a "technical flight" when its communication systems stopped sending signals 38 kilometers from the Khabarovsk city airport, the ministry said. A Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) helicopter and a rescue team have been dispatched to find the missing aircraft.
"The search is complicated by the dark time of day and unfavorable weather conditions," the Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement on its website.
Citing an unnamed source, Interfax reported that the plane is believed to have crashed in the Bolshekhekhtsirsky Nature Reserve outside Khabarovsk while performing a low-altitude flight at 600 meters. and then 0 meters
It added that the An-26 has been in operation since 1979 and was used by the company Flight Inspections and Systems as an "air laboratory" for the past 15 years.
Emergency services cited by media said that the An-26 was due to test communication systems during the flight.
#4
/\ "Dreaded AN-26" is my reference. This aircraft has an abysmal safety and performance record. It is prohibited from flying or landing in some countries.
#10
AN-28 is a low and slow STOL aircraft, TFSM. About 200 mph cruise and 20,000-ft ceiling. Not a really good flight record, but better than the AN-26. The Poles based their PZL M28 Skytruck on it.
A good pilot could 'stick and rudder' a landing almost anywhere if something were to happen. Large wings and control surfaces (incl. dual tail) for the size of the aircraft.
Unlike the AN-26 in a similar circumstance, most AN-28 passengers might survive a crash.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/26/2022 17:39
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[IsraelTimes] Cops arrest 3 suspects; guns were likely set to be sold to Arab Israelis for criminal purposes; 4 firearms also confiscated in West Bank in overnight raids
Israeli security forces arrested three people suspected of smuggling guns into Israel from Jordan Friday morning, confiscating several rifles in the process, the military and police said.
According to the IDF, 10 AK-47 rifles, magazines and ammunition were found inside two vehicles near the main highway running along Israel’s long border with Jordan.
Soldiers operating surveillance cameras spotted the two suspicious vehicles near the border fence on the Route 90 highway, and after a chase on the roads near Beit She’an the smugglers were arrested, police said.
Law enforcement officials said the suspects were men in their 20s and 30s, from the southern Israel Bedouin village of Tirabin and a Paleostinian town in the south Hebron Hills area of the West Bank.
Police indicated that the guns were likely to have been sold to Arab Israelis, and estimated the value of the guns at some NIS 800,000 ($245,000).
"This confiscation is another success for the Northern District Police in finding sources of illegal weapons for the Arab community, while eliminating smuggling routes and the trade through them," police said in a statement.
The IDF has stepped up efforts to halt smuggling attempts along the Jordanian border in recent months, but officials have admitted that the military has seen limited success thus far.
Last Friday some 50 firearms apparently smuggled over the Jordan border were seized, and last month four people suspected of smuggling guns from Jordan were arrested by security forces, who confiscated dozens of firearms in the process.
Separately overnight Thursday, police seized two M-16 rifles and two hunting rifles during raids in Hebron and the West Bank town of Bayt Sahur, respectively.
Police said three suspects were arrested.
Authorities have increasingly sought to crack down on the unmitigated spread of illegal weapons in the Arab Israeli community, which have been used to carry out record-breaking numbers of murders in recent years.
According to the Abraham Initiatives, a non-government group lobbying against violence in the Arab community, 125 Arabs — an all-time record — were killed in Israel in 2021 as a result of violence and crime. Since the beginning of this year, another 14 have been killed in incidents of violent mostly peaceful crime.
[PJMedia] According to the Canadian financial blog Armstrong Economics, the emergency powers activated by Justin Trudeau ...hereditary prime minister of the same country that once produced McKenzie King... to cripple the trucker protests have sparked panic among citizens, which could lead to a devastating financial crisis. On Feb. 14, Trudeau enacted the Emergencies Act, which enabled Canadian banks to freeze the assets of anyone who donated to protests against the vaccine mandates — without due process or any court action.
Trudeau then ordered the banks to unfreeze the accounts after the protesters had been cleared away. But what is reported to have happened after that is being ignored by the corporate press. Armstrong Economics says there was a stunning run on banks across Canada, as scared citizens are withdrawing their life savings and transferring it to foreign banks in the United States and elsewhere.
The sheer amount of money withdrawals from Canadian banks was massive. There appears to have been a 500% increase just in the previous 24 hours. This is the problem with politicians. They are simply UNQUALIFIED to make such decisions. They have no idea that freezing accounts will undermine the confidence in the banking system,
Trudeau has created a very serious crisis and just rescinding his Emergency Act is not going to make it all better. Trudeau has driven a stake through the heart of the Canadian economy and that means that international capital will be skeptical about trusting Canada as long a Trudeau is in power.
Personal anecdotes responding to the Twitter thread below also show that Canadians are having trouble removing their money from the banks, and that the feeling at the banks is very strange. One user said, "The bank TD; told me to come back Monday, my Daily cash withdrawal was denied Friday. I have taken out larger amounts everyday." Another said, "It is absolutely true. The lines were out the doors and a bank teller told me at one branch not to visit a specific branch because they had run out of funds that day. It’s very real. The energy inside the bank was clearly not good."
One of the protesters whose accounts were frozen announced his intention to withdraw all of his money from the Canadian banking system. "My bank accounts have been unfrozen," wrote Tom Marazzo. "Tomorrow I’ll close all of my BMO accounts after withdrawing my money." Several people have responded that they are doing the same.
PJ Media reached out to Scotia Bank to ask if they have put a $2,000 limit on withdrawals, as is being reported by customers on Twitter, but received no response by the time of publishing.
If it’s true that Canadians are panicking and withdrawing all their money from Canadian banks, then this is a huge story, and yet it’s one that the corporate media doesn’t seem interested in at all. There isn’t one report in any corporate press about any of this.
Jordan Peterson, famed Canadian philosopher, says he’s been in contact with a "reliable source" in the Canadian military who advised him to take his money out of the Canadian banking system because the situation is "far worse" than anyone is being told.
[NYT via NR] Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.
Each time, the Chinese officials, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, rebuffed the Americans, saying they did not think an invasion was in the works. After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the officials said.
#1
There was likely never any hope the Chinese would "beseech" the bear regarding anything. This was a simple diplomatic baiting and learning exercise.
1. Advanced intelligence collection methodologies and likely product recipients were revealed.
2. Re-transmission contacts and routing venues were confirmed.
3. Taiwan smiles knowingly. Hat tips received from Hungary, Poland, Romania, Albania, Finland, and others.
[Western Journal] A truckers’ convoy, inspired by Canada’s Freedom Convoy, began making its way across the U.S. starting in California on Wednesday.
The group is calling for an end to the COVID-19 mandates and the state of national emergency prompted by the pandemic, which was first declared by then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 and just renewed by President Joe Biden last week.
By Friday afternoon, "The People’s Convoy," as it has been dubbed, had crossed Arizona on Interstate 40, which parallels much of the old U.S. Route 66, and reached Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The group is posting its progress on Facebook.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the convoy consisted of dozens of trucks by the time it reached Kingman, Arizona, Wednesday, where the truckers spent their first night.
[Washington Examiner] Inflation rose to the highest level in four decades in January in the gauge preferred by the Federal Reserve, increasing pressure on the central bank to move quickly to curb price gains.
Prices rose 6.1% in the year ending in January, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index updated Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Inflation is up three-tenths of a percentage point from the month before and at a rate not seen since the end of the era of the Great Inflation in early 1982.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-24/ukraine-is-first-war-waged-amid-operating-nuclear-power-plants?cmpid=BBD022522_MKT&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=220225&utm_campaign=markets&sref=h5EZFUoq
The Fed's target for inflation, in comparison, is 2%, as measured by the same index. The major overshoot of inflation has forced Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to scramble to tighten monetary policy and led to accusations that the central bank is behind the curve. High prices have also led voters to sour on President Joe Biden's stewardship of the economy and hurt support for his proposals for new federal spending.
The price increases in January were driven in large part by a major rise in the cost of energy — more than a quarter over the course of the year, a phenomenon that has particularly hurt drivers paying more for gas. Food prices, too, rose nearly 7% over the course of the year.
[Breitbart] Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Friday on CNN’s "The Situation Room" that "at the invitation of Ukraine" we should declare Ukraine a no-fly zone "enforced by NATO and the United States."
Kinzinger said, "The Ukrainian people are fighting much harder than I think Putin expected. But they will be outmatched and outgunned ultimately by somebody that is very willing to lose his own troops, and he doesn’t care, Vladimir Putin."
He added, "I think this is time where we need to, at the invitation of Ukraine, declare Ukraine a no-fly zone enforced by NATO and the United States. We certainly have the capability to do that. The air space is still contested by the Ukrainians. We can shut down Russian air operations, even if we don’t directly engage Russian troops on the ground."
Kinzinger said, "Vladimir Putin is threatened the use of nuclear weapons. That shows you how dangerous this man is. And he only stops when his bayonet hits a brick wall. The United States and NATO must be that brick wall tonight. I would love to see us declare at the invitation of Ukraine that Ukraine is a no-fly zone, and we will enforce that. I’ve got to tell you, for anybody that thinks that somehow we’re going to be equally matched with Russia, NATO, and the United States would crush Russia in the air in a second. We have to remember how good we are at that. That can be the thing that can give the Ukrainians a fighting ability to prevent the occupation of Kyiv, but they won’t go quietly into the night."
#1
How does this jackass propose to enforce a No Fly zone without actively engaging Russian aircraft? Park all the Patriot and SAM from NATO at the polish border and hope it has range? Or does he mean counter air - which means shooting down RUssian aircraft.
As unhinged as Putin has become, doing this would probably cause Putin to widen his attacks and start hitting anyone and everyojne he can throw forces at, especially the baltic states, and Romania and Poland.
I am so glad this swamp creature RINO is out on his ass after this term.
#6
Of course they want a war with Russia. Why do you think they started the Ukraine crisis in the first place? Duh.
Russia will be invaded, conquered, and broken up into small states easily dominated by bankers. These new states will be inundated by immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. Russia will never be a threat to profits again.
#7
I figured there was some homonym confusion, Besoeker. (not that there is anything wrong with being a homophone) I was goofing on the Chinese guy. And if we are going to drag Henry Kissinger into this, we might as well mention Jill St. John.
#9
They understand that this involves swatting transport helicopters and downing paratroop airlift? This ain't Libya, and forcing Russia to go straight up artillery is a likely outcome.
#11
Don't sign your name on it, keep doing what you are doing, let Ukraine fight "on their own", and watch as the weather turns to shit (thawing temperatures, rain) next week and the ground goes all muddy. The week after next should be even worse for maneuver.
#12
Yes, massive Russian artillery barrages are the next step.
The Russians are already bringing their 240mm mortars and 203mm cannons to the front lines. Should be destroyed by air before they level entire mid/high rise buildings.
[Breitbart] Ukrainian forces are reporting success in using American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles against invading Russian armor. British NLAW weapons are also reportedly performing well against Russian tanks.
The FGM-148 Javelin Close Combat Missile System-Medium (CCMS-M) is an advanced man-portable anti-armor weapon developed in a joint venture by Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin to replace the M47 Dragon in the mid-1990s. It is possible to mount Javelins on robot vehicles and fire them remotely. Javelins are employed by the U.S. Army and Marines to counter enemy armor, penetrate hard targets like bunkers, and even destroy helicopters.
The Javelin’s advantages include "soft launch" capability with minimal exhaust fumes and recoil, making it possible to launch them from inside buildings during urban combat operations; a top-attack flight profile that sends the missile above its target, giving it a chance to find the weakest point in enemy armor before it strikes; fire-and-forget electronics that allow the users to move quickly out of harm’s way after firing; and double warheads that have proven very effective at defeating all existing forms of armor.
Javelins are noted for their high degree of reliability and effectiveness in adverse battlefield conditions, the remarkable accuracy of their targeting computers, and excellent range for such a light weapon. The entire Javelin launch and targeting package weighs less than 50 pounds. It takes about 30 seconds to set up and fire, and perhaps 20 seconds to reload.
Military analysts regard the Javelin as the premier anti-tank weapon in the world, with only a few other platforms coming close to its battle-tested capabilities. Perhaps the highest tribute to its quality is that the Chinese stole it as quickly as possible.
The Dragon missile superseded by the Javelin had plenty of armor-piercing power, but it was bulkier, less reliable, had shorter range, and lacked ability to fly above armored vehicles and strike down at their weak points. The final nail in the Dragon’s coffin was the introduction of "reactive armor" on late-model Soviet tanks, a form of armor that sacrifices an outer layer of disposable tiles to blunt the impact of anti-tank missiles. Javelins defeat reactive armor by using their first warhead to disperse the reactive tiles, then punching through the enemy’s main armor layer with the second warhead.
Ukraine received a shipment of Javelins as recently as late January, as part of the latest $200 million security package offered by the United States. On Friday, Estonia announced it would send some of its Javelin inventory to Ukraine, along with food, medical equipment, and protective gear.
At around the same time, the British government hurriedly shipped almost 200 units of its RB-57 Next Generation Light Antitank Weapon (NLAW) to Ukraine, adding to almost 2,000 previously delivered. The U.K. also sent paratroopers to train the Ukrainians in effective use of the NLAW.
#8
The Javelin and other western anti-tank missiles are doing a number on the Russian armor. Don't know if the Russians put their upgrades on the assault units or not, but if they did it seems they don't work for shit.
And that is good for the West/India.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The British military and Europe's forces are in a parlous state with insufficient numbers and unsuitable armoured and soft skinned vehicle fleet.
What is certain is that Putin is well aware of our ever diminishing armed forces. He believes the West has lost the will to fight and that in no small measure has emboldened him to take the risks.
Politicians don't realise that dictators respect power and notice what nations do to their fighting forces and they have steadily over many years cut and cut our military.
Certainly, when one looks at the pathetic overall level of European defence spending it is not surprising that Putin takes heart.
#1
UK trying to do as much damage to the EU as it can. Good lads.
This war is going to hurt the EU far more than it will Russia or Ukraine. Which is the whole idea. To keep them in the US orbit instead of being able to determine their own destiny. Nordstream 2 was a close call.
#2
China has an alternative to SWIFT that it is pushing hard. Kick Russia out of SWIFT and the Chinese system will be the requirement for energy purchases from Russia, all over the world. And with Western energy production deliberately strangled, that would be a major power shift.
#3
/\ Fok these communist bastids, they are the enemy. They have always been the enemy. Close down the Walmarts and Home Depot's until they can re-stock with American made goods. I am sick of these threatening tyrants and their global mischief.
Say nothing, continue to say nothing. Simply stick it up their collective arses at every turn! Chinese, Russians, Iranians, Pakiwaki's.... anyone else.
#1
This idiotic admin is on the side of our enemies:
Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.
Each time, the Chinese officials, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, rebuffed the Americans, saying they did not think an invasion was in the works. After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the officials said.
#2
... beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.
According to U.S. officials, huh? I call bullshit. Nobody in their right mind can believe the Chinese would tell Russia not to invade, especially while the Chinese are planning their own invasion of Taiwan.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/26/2022 13:03
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[Breitbart] If voters give the GOP a House majority in November, then GOP legislators will investigate and expose the migrant smuggling networks funded by President Joe Biden’s administration, said Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX).
“Many of these migrants are being aided, in fact, by [U.S.] nonprofits who are using our tax dollars to do the aiding and helping them across, helping them get on airplanes without documentation, helping them to evade court hearing and helping them to burrow into society and evade any questions from law enforcement,” Gooden told Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
“It is just stunning to me that we are giving money to anybody that’s not a U.S. citizen — much less someone who’s come into this country the wrong way,” added Gooden, who was first elected in 2018 to Texas’s 5th district, east of Dallas.
When the migrants are south of the U.S. border, they are being supported by the United Nations and Mexican-based aid groups, Gooden said:
The United Nations … is receiving support from the US government, among others. And [it is] helping sponsor these caravans [of migrants], they’re giving them debit cards, providing them with financial assistance throughout their journey to the U.S. border.
But the migrants who cross the U.S. border also get support from a U.S -based network of Non-Government Organizations [NGOs], he said:
When the [migrants] get to the border, they try to claim asylum status, which has to be determined through a proper hearing. But during the time that they are waiting for their trial day, they are aided by these NGOs.
You’ve heard me talk about Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Council, [and] the Lutherans [which] are involved. What they do is they go to the border and take these asylum seekers from [the Department of Homeland Security, DHS]. They’re paid by [DHS] to provide aid. So there’s an incentive to bring in more people because the more people that the Catholic Charities [or] the Jewish Family Council bring in, the more money they get from the U.S. government. It is a way that the administration has helped to aid — and in fact fund — the invasion of our nation.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
02/26/2022
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[Jpost] Western leaders’ ignorance contributed to the Ukrainian conflict no less than Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, but his, unlike theirs, is self-destructive.
Ignorance, the weapon no spy can map and no bunker can hide – is the Ukrainian conflict’s ultimate victor.
Much has been said this week about Vladimir Putin’s version of Ukrainian history, and his dismissal of its right for self-determination.
Continued on Page 49
Putin's a big boy, and his imperialist dreams are his own. They weren't put in his head by anyone else.
Just once I'd like to see people admit that non-Americans have free will, and aren't just dancing to a mysterious tune we're playing but can't hear.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/26/2022 2:31
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#2
That's crazy talk, Rob.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/26/2022 8:34
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#3
Much has been said this week about Vladimir Putin’s version of Ukrainian history, and his dismissal of its right for self-determination.
Without having gone yet to Page 49, I can acknowledge that Ukraine and Russia have historically been the same country. However, there were so many horrible things that happened in the time of Stalin's collectivization of Ukrainian farms and in WWII that it might be better for everyone if they are divorced.
At the same time, I can understand Putin's paranoia when it comes to NATO troops in Ukraine.
Now imagine the sense of betrayal that Zelensky and other Ukrainians must feel. People like McCain and Obama encouraged them to believe they could become full-fledged members of the European Union and NATO but, now that push has come to shove, Brandon takes a nap in Delaware.
McCain should have known better than to make promises he could not keep. But then, Ukrainians should have known better than to believe him. I think the best solution would be for Ukraine to achieve a status similar to Finland, wary of the bear and careful not to provoke him but maintaining their independence. Might be too late for that now.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/26/2022 14:40
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#4
" I think the best solution would be for Ukraine to achieve a status similar to Finland, wary of the bear and careful not to provoke him but maintaining their independence. Might be too late for that now." Oh, I like that thought. I wonder out loud Badanov's opinion on that.
#5
yeah, and Putin threatened Finland and Sweden for (smartly) considering NATO membership after his attempt to gobble Ukraine
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/26/2022 18:47
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#6
Don't buy the "NATO expansion frightened Putin" line for a minute. The issue is pure imperialism.
And if you think because Russia once ruled the Ukraine it should legitimately do so again, try telling the Irish they should be under British rule again.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/26/2022 20:06
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#7
For the sake of argument, stipulate that Putin is correct and Ukraine and Russia were once one nation and should be again. This would be satisfied if the joint nation were ruled from Kiev, right?
Posted by: james ||
02/26/2022 21:11
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Oh, I like that thought. I wonder out loud Badanov's opinion on that.
[ShafaqNews] On Feb. 2, explosive-laden drones reportedly launched from Iraq targeted the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital Abu Dhabi. A shadowy Iraqi group called Awliyat al-Waad al-Haq, the True Promise Brigades, grabbed credit, saying the attack was Dire Revenge for the UAE's policies in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... . Emirati air defenses successfully intercepted the drones before they could cause any casualties or damage.
That wasn't the first reported militia drone attack from Iraq against a regional country. A Jan. 23, 2021, drone attack against Saudi Arabia
Continued on Page 49
[Shafaq News] New details had been disclosed regarding the recent incident that took place in Baghdad, when a force from the Counter-Terrorism service surrounded al-Kharkh's Court of Appeal.
Yesterday, the Supreme Judicial Council called on the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, to regulate the conduct of some security members violating the law, and open an investigation into the reasons behind the Court incident.
The Council said in a statement that the Court had took legal measures against several security members for violating the law.
Earlier, a vehicle belonging to the military intelligence agency tried to break an inmate out of prison, who is arrested on charges of being involved in the failed liquidation attempt against PM al-Kadhimi.
This prompted the Prime Minister to immediately instruct a force from the Counter-Terrorism service to head to the Court, where the two sides clashed before the CTS force took the convict to a safe place.
Following the incident, the head of the intelligence service, Fayez al-Ma'mouri, was dismissed and summoned for investigation, while Maj.Gen Zaid Houshi was assigned to replace him.
AIN ISSA, Syria (North Press) – On Friday, Turkish forces and affiliated armed Syrian opposition factions targeted the countryside of Ain Issa town, north of Raqqa, northern Syria, with shells and heavy weapons.
“The Turkish forces and the affiliated factions shelled al-Hoshan village and M4 Highway, west of Ain Issa,” a military source of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told North Press.
“Dozens of shells fell down on the village that is adjacent to Ain Issa town,” locals said.
The shelling coincided with the flight of Turkish drones over the area.
On February 13, the Turkish shelling of M4 Highway led to the killing of a person and caused damage to the civilians’ property in Ain Issa.
From time to time, the Ain Issa town and other regions in north and northeast Syria are shelled by Turkey and its affiliated factions.
Reporting by Gulistan Muhammad
Posted by: badanov ||
02/26/2022
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Already on Thursday, the UN refugee agency warned that some 100,000 people had been displaced inside the country, and on Friday it said large numbers were fleeing into neighboring countries.
Those arriving in neighboring countries were mostly women, children and the elderly after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday banned men of military age from leaving the country.
A woman from Kyiv who arrived in Przemsyl, Poland, broke down in tears describing how men were pulled off trains in Ukraine before they got to the border.
The Ukrainian authorities, another woman said, "were nice, not rude, but they said that men have a duty to defend the country."
Shafaq News / A civilian was killed in an ISIS attack in al-Anbar, a security source reported.
The source told Shafaq News agency that ISIS terrorists attacked a gas station in al-Rutba district, and opened fire on civilians' cars and security points.
A civilian was killed in the attack, and the security forces have launched a searching campaign to pursue the terrorists, according to the source.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/26/2022
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[DW] Medical charity Doctors Without Borders has confirmed the kidnapping of five of its members in northern Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... . The identities of the kidnappers and motive are not yet known.
A group of gunnies have kidnapped five staff members working for Doctors Without Borders, known by the French acronym MSF, in northern Cameroon.
According to a statement issued by the medical charity on Thursday night, gunnies broke into the MSF base in Fotokol, situated in the remote northern border area with neighboring Nigeria.
MOTIVE FOR KIDNAPPING UNKNOWN
"Five members of our team were taken away after the break-in. Neither the identity nor the motives of the perpetrators are known at this time," MSF told DW in an emailed response.
The organization said that its teams were "mobilized to support our five colleagues."
News agency AFP cited a local administrative official as saying that three of the aid workers are from Chad, one is from Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... , and the fifth is French-Ivorian.
The source also said two Cameroonian security guards were among those kidnapped and that the army had launched a search for the missing members of staff.
CAMEROON'S TROUBLED NORTH
Though the identity of the kidnappers remains unknown, there have been a number of attacks targeting civilians and soldiers by Islamist groups.
Boko Haram ...not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... and the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... West Africa Province are known to launch attacks in the area including in the nearby Lake Chad region.
In September 2019, a suspected Boko Haram attack near Fotoko, claimed the lives of six Cameroonian soldiers.
In August 2021, 26 Chadian soldiers were killed while on patrol in neighboring Chad.
The violence has spawned a regional humanitarian crisis, and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and dispersed in neighboring countries.
MSF has been helping to assist displaced people and refugees, providing treatment to tens of thousands of people.
Coupled with the Islamist insurgency, Cameroon is also trying to tackle murderous Moslems from the country's Anglophone minority who are fighting for the establishment of a separate state.
MSF also told DW that it would only be releasing limited information on the situation at this time.
There are always game videos of Arma3 on the Internet, and to the untrained eye, the footage looks real.
I will recount back in 2008, during Russia's punitive raid on Georgia, one news organization used the fake data on my rkka.org website as a description for the Russian forces available. Some of that data was cribbed off the post apocalyptic wargame Twilight 2000.
I can well imagine what they think when they see footage from a Russia versus Ukraine video game footage.
Mildly amusing.
[Facebook] Dear Arma Community!
Beware that lately quite a few videos from heavily modded Arma games surfaced tagged as videos depicting the current Ukrainian conflict.
We are in touch with the media helping to fact-check such videos.
Russian users who tried to go on PornHub were presented with a message saying the content is blocked along with a Ukrainian flag and a message of support to Ukraine.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
Yep — those Jewish Nazis are something else. See Politico article below.
[ColonelCassad] Lavrov responded to the plaintive proposals of Zelensky and his gang "to negotiate the neutrality of Ukraine and obtain guarantees."
Frankly speaking, Lavrov's answer pleased me pleasantly.
1. Russia is immediately ready to start negotiations after the Armed Forces of Ukraine lay down their arms.
2. Ukraine is waiting for demilitarization.
3. Ukraine is waiting for denazification.
4. Russia will no longer allow the Nazis to rule Ukraine.
That's literally all true. Too bad it's eight years later. But nonetheless. I would have subscribed to this in 2014, and I will subscribe now, especially in the issue of denazification.
Until there is readiness to comply with the demands of Russia, the fighting against the Nazi regime will continue, but judging by what is happening in Kyiv and the surrounding area (from the west, Russian special forces and armored vehicles are already very close), there is not so long left.
As for Zelensky's willingness to negotiate, Lavrov said that Zelensky was lying and he had already missed the opportunity for negotiations.
They will negotiate with the new representative democratic government of Ukraine (that is, with other people).
That is, the ultimate goal is to change the regime in Ukraine and turn Ukraine into something more adequate than it has been for the past 8 years.
[Politico] Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... on Thursday declared war on Ukraine and pledged to oversee a "demilitarization and de-Nazification" of the country — which is led by a Jewish president.
Hours before Putin’s televised address, Volodymyr Zelenskiy had delivered his own final, powerful but ultimately fruitless plea for peace, in which he pushed back at Putin’s unfounded accusations that Ukraine was being run by Nazis.
Addressing the Russian public directly and in Russian, his native language, Zelenskiy said: "The Ukraine on your news and Ukraine in real life are two completely different countries — and the main difference between them is: Ours is real. You are told we are Nazis. But could a people who lost more than 8 million lives in the battle against Nazism support Nazism?"
After a pregnant pause, Zelenskiy, who is Jewish — though he did not explicitly say that in the video — added: "How can I be a Nazi? Explain it to my grandfather, who went through the entire war in the infantry of the Soviet army, and died a colonel in an independent Ukraine."
The Ukrainian president has said that three of his grandfather’s brothers were killed in the Holocaust.
#4
He speaks of NAZI'S in Ukraine.
But his actions mimick Hilters acquisition German speaking Austria in 1939. An Biden is playing the role of PM Chamberlain.
A fair point, Mercutio. Even that one East German neo-Nazi gang leader a few years back who had his family tree or DNA done, learned he was 100% Jewish and was kicked out.
Commentary by Russian military journalisy Boris Rozhin. Highlights by direction:
1. LDNR - the positional nature of hostilities remains, with the attempts of the LDNR armies to advance to the borders of the territories occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
2. Southern direction - The RF Armed Forces retained control over the bridge across the Dnieper near Kherson, repelling counterattack attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The fighting in the area of the Antonovsky bridge continues.
New Kakhovka is also held. This morning Melitopol was taken and the advance began in the direction of Berdyansk.
3. Kharkov direction - fighting continues on the near approaches to Kharkov. Both sides suffer losses in men and equipment.
4. Sumy direction - the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took Putivl and passing through Sumy (there continued the battle at the airport today), advanced to Konotop, surrounding the city.
Today, attempts continued to take Akhtyrka in order to reach Kharkov from the west. Russian checkpoints have been set up on the Sumy-Kyiv highway. There is an advance towards Kiev and Chernigov. (The Armed Forces of Ukraine repulsed the attack of the RF Armed Forces in the Chernihiv direction).
5. Kyiv - Gostomel airfield is held by paratroopers. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have not been able to knock them out of there. This morning, tank columns of the RF Armed Forces broke through to the nearest approaches to Kiev and are close to establishing a direct connection with the landing force.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing a counterattack, declaring that another landing will be thrown out in the Gostomel area today.
The Pentagon says that Kyiv will fall in the coming days. After 10 o'clock, shooting was heard in the city. Also, according to the statement of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the landing was thrown to the west of Zhytomyr. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively undermining the bridges on the outskirts, trying to slow down the advance of the RF Armed Forces.
6. In the morning, attacks on military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine throughout Ukraine continued. A Su-27 of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down over Kiev - according to one version, by the Russian air defense system, according to another, by the Ukrainian ones. The downed "Caliber" fell on a residential building in Kyiv, but there were no casualties. During the shelling of Gorlovka, a school was hit - 2 teachers were killed.
7. The Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile attack on the Millerovo airfield in the territory of the Russian Federation. Damage is reported at the airfield, but there are no aircraft casualties.
Near Kiev, the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the night of Saturday, February 26, destroyed a Russian Il-76 aircraft with paratroopers on board. This is reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Our Air Defense Forces shot down an IL-76 with an enemy landing in the Vasilkov area. This is revenge for Luhansk in 2014. Death to the enemies!" - informed the military.
As clarified in the command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, at about 00:30 a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter successfully attacked an enemy military transport aircraft Il-76MD. Now heavy fighting continues in Vasilkovo in places where the occupiers are trying to land troops from the air.
In turn, the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, informs that two helicopters were also shot down in the Vasilkov area, and in the JFO zone, the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down two enemy targets - a helicopter and a Su-25 attack aircraft of the Russian occupation forces.
Recall, the day before, Russian Il-76 with paratroopers on board landed at the Belarusian airfield Gomel. Due to damage to the runway of the Gostomel airfield, the enemy decided to advance under its own power from the territory of Belarus in the direction of Gomel-Chernigov-Kiev.
A video of a conversation between a military Russian army and local residents of Sumy has been posted on the social network. Video posted on Facebook.
"A representative of the occupying army of the Russian Federation is negotiating with the residents of Sumy about surrendering. The soldiers of the Russian Federation agree to lay down their arms, take off their bulletproof vests and ask local residents to call the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to be taken from their positions," the caption to the video says.
On the recording, you can hear how a local resident tells the military the terms of surrender.
Earlier it was reported that in the Chernihiv region, an entire reconnaissance platoon of the Russian military surrendered to the Ukrainian military.
"On the evening of February 25, after the landing of an amphibious assault in the area of the settlement of Azov (Ukraine), Russian units marched and, without meeting resistance, entered Melitopol," the report says. Andrey Chervonets said that Wagner units performed as a covering party of the advance.
Local residents greeted the military, some pensioners took to the streets with red flags, the Defense Ministry added.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in the Donbass . He assured that Moscow's plans do not include the occupation of Ukraine, only its demilitarization and denazification.
The Ministry of Defense emphasized that the Russian Armed Forces do not carry out any missile, air or artillery strikes on Ukrainian cities: military infrastructure is disabled by high-precision weapons, nothing threatens the civilian population.
The latest:
3:15. Fierce battles in Vasylkiv. The occupiers in police uniforms drove up to the checkpoint with flashing lights and shot at the defenders of Ukraine. The death toll is unknown.
As of 02:00. About 60 saboteurs were killed in Kyiv on Friday, February 25.
For 2nd straight night, hundreds take to streets in St. Petersburg to protest Putin’s invasion
[IsraelTimes] For the second straight night, hundreds of Russian protesters have taken to the streets of St. Petersburg to protest President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... ’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Last night, some 1,800 people were arrested, according to the Guardian, and additional arrests are already being reported at tonight’s demonstration as well.
Info Wars’ content ranges from QAnon-level conspiracy to things that should be reported in the respectable media, but the Democrats With Bylines block lest the received wisdom be undone. I’m not sure which this is.
Russia’s drive to seize control of Ukraine quickly has lost momentum amid resistance from Ukrainian fighters on the ground and in the air, a senior US defense official said Friday.
“Their momentum, particularly as it comes to Kyiv, has slowed over the last 24 hours,” the official said.
Russian forces, which entered Ukraine early Thursday, have yet to seize any major cities, or gain control of airspace, the official said.
“They have not achieved the progress that we believe they anticipated they would,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“A good indicator of that is no population centers have been taken. None,” the official said.
The Pentagon believes that Moscow wants to seize control of Kyiv and replace the Western-leaning government with allies of the Kremlin.
And many worry that the powerful Russian force, with massive backup still awaiting on Ukraine’s border, could conquer Kyiv within days. But so far, while Russian forces have focused on military targets, they have not been able to disrupt the Ukrainian military structure.
“As we see it right now… Ukrainian command and control is intact,” the official said.
Nor have they been able to command air space. The Pentagon says that Ukrainian air defense systems are still working and the country’s air force is still able to fly and threaten Russian aircraft.
“They’re meeting more resistance than they expected,” the official said.
“We continue to have indications that it’s not going quite the way that they had anticipated.”
Starting with a massive missile barrage, Russia launched its invasion along three axes: the first a push from Belarus directly north toward Kyiv; the second from Russia’s Belgorod region toward the major city of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine; and the third, from Crimea in the south towards Kherson.
While Russian forces have reached the outskirts of Kyiv, they have not been able to enter, and fighting remains heavy around Kharkiv, which also has not fallen.
In the south, Russians continue to push to Kherson but are also widening the front, landing amphibious forces to Crimea’s east to threaten Mariupol. Russians have also sought to take control of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant on the Dnieper river north of Crimea, launching cyberattacks on the plant, the official said.
The Pentagon would not estimate how many Russian forces had entered Ukraine, after having amassed more than 150,000 along the country’s borders before attacking. The official said that they had moved “about a third of their combat power” into Ukraine, and the rest remain in place just outside.
#1
Now heavy fighting continues in Vasilkovo in places where the occupiers are trying to land troops from the air. Near Kiev, the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the night of Saturday, February 26, destroyed a Russian Il-76 aircraft with paratroopers on board. This is reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Followup:
Meanwhile, the mayor of a city south of the capital says the country's military has fended off a Russian attempt to take control of a military air base.
Natalia Balansynovych, mayor of Vasylkiv, about 25 miles south of Kyiv, said Russian airborne forces landed near the city overnight and tried to seize the base. She added that fierce fighting also raged in Vasylkiv's central street.
She said Ukrainian forces repelled the Russian attacks, and the situation is now calm. Ms Balansynovych said there were heavy casualties, but did not give any numbers.
Ukraine's government said earlier on Friday night that they had shot down two Russian military transport planes carrying paratroopers on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The first IL-76 came down near Vasylkiv, 20 miles south of Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said.
The second IL-76 was shot down near Bila Tserkva, 50 miles south of the capital, Nexta reported.
The fate of those onboard was unclear. The aircrafts - medium-range military transport aircraft, which first went into service in 1974 - can hold 150-225 fully-equipped soldiers, and is used to drop paratroopers into combat and resupply arms.
#4
Update on last night's fighting in Kyiv's outskirt.
In Kyiv, in the area of the Beresteiska metro station, the enemy tried to attack a military unit of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at night, the attack was repulsed, the saboteurs were destroyed, but the bridge across Peremohy Avenue was damaged.
According to Ukrinform, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, announced this on Telegram.
"The complete defeat of a column of Russian occupiers between Radensk and Oleshky. Dozens of corpses of Russian occupiers. Those who were not destroyed fled into the woods. The search for them is underway," he said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/26/2022 8:50
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#10
It would appear Putin has planned this invasion for a long time and that his "annexation" of Crimea in 2014 was to establish a strongpoint to the south in preparation for the current action. That, and the cultivation of Belarus on the north, put him in a good position to quickly cut-off Kiev. Having said that, one has to wonder if the whole Ukrainian action is also part of a long range plan, e.g. it puts him in a strong position to take the Baltic States.
This whole thing is spinning out of control. I don't think NATO will/can act resolutely. The Iron Curtain is once again descending.
Of course our "intelligence services" never saw any of this coming. They were focused on getting rid of Trump.
#13
The Russins claim it's about "demilitarization." That will entail either a large amount of attrition or a full surrender.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2022 9:42
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#14
...well their record in Chechnya wasn't great in urban fighting, particularly trying to execute a coup de main. They finally succeeded only in the old Soviet way in a slow systematic massive artillery manner. That took months. Putin in for that?
#16
Good news: 2nd attack on Chernihiv failed. Grad rockets pounded the city. First failed so bad that the Russians abandoned that route even though it is the shortest route from Russian territory to Kyiv.
“We have received the command ‘all-round defense’. We have information that 12 tanks have broken through from the Kakhovka direction, and enemy forces are following them,” Kim told.
#28
Those people have to be seriously pissed off to fight that way.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/26/2022 12:59
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#29
HBelluva butcher's bill:
More than 55 hours of resistance. Our defenders have completely destroyed the enemy's plans. As of this morning, the number of destroyed Russian occupiers exceeded 3,000 persons - Defense Minister
#31
Russian blogger/correspondents such as Rozhin and Chervenets are slowing way down in their presentations. Very little information coming from them.
Today, Ukraine's railway workers blew up all connections with the Russian railways. That is important to block future military supplies.https://t.co/lfvTC6VmOY
#33
There are a thousand ways this could get really, uh, interesting. If Vlad decides on a no-more-Mr. Nice Guy strategy and pounds Kyiv into rubble regardless of civilian casualties, how do NATO and its individual members react? Even if NATO's official position doesn't change, it just takes a handful of pissed-off (e.g.) Polish fighter pilots to decide that a massacre is beyond their tolerance. And just how far are the Russians themslves willing to follow Vlad's lead?
Posted by: Matt ||
02/26/2022 13:44
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1/ With all eyes on Ukraine, #taliban started large-scale operation in Kabul, Panjshir and few more provinces, supposedly searching for Daesh and #NRF supporters. Reportedly abducted many Panjshiris from Kheir Khana and Karte Parwan areas of Kabul.This morning broke into my house pic.twitter.com/JpWFIUTufd
A robber kicked a 57-year-old woman down the stairs and bashed her head repeatedly with a hammer at the Queens Plaza subway station
A camera captured the moment the suspect, walking with a cane, assaulted the woman and struck her in the head 13 times in an attempt to steal her purse
The attack comes days after NYC Mayor Eric Adams vowed to crackdown on subway crime and deployed 1,000 additional officers to the transit system
Subway stabbings and slashings have spiked 29 percent in the last last year, with 182 incidents compared to 141 in 2020
So far in 2022, stabbings have been up 35 percent from the same time last year
#1
How about arm your citizenry? Shoot on provocation? The body count will be big up front like COVID (without the nursing home contributions) but will drop off as well. Afterwards, crime will be down and people more polite. Civilization will return.
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – On Friday, two children lost their lives in a landmine explosion of ISIS remnants in the city of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria.
“The two children, Abdullah Sawadi, 8, and Ibrahim al-Khalaf, 13, lost their lives while playing with a mine of ISIS remnants,” said Muhammad Subhi, a resident of al-Karaj al-Qadim neighborhood in the city of Deir ez-Zor.
“The two children were playing with the mine trying to clean it to sell it to a peddler as a piece of copper,” Subhi added.
War remnants significantly spread in Deir ez-Zor area, ISIS last stronghold, and they pose a risk on the people, especially the children.
On February 22, three people lost lives, including two children, and another child was wounded in a landmine explosion of ISIS remnants in Khasham town, east of Deir ez-Zor.
[Garowe] For the first time in 2022, the US Africa Command returned with a bang in Somalia, waging the first-ever Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, which targeted al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...Arabic for students... Continued on Page 49
#3
One of Putin's complaints is the way our military goes tearing around the world, implementing regime change in countries where we have no business. But, oh my, how terrible it is when he pushes back.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/26/2022 11:57
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DARAA, Syria (North Press) – On Friday, unknown gunmen shot dead a former commander of an opposition military groups, in the western countryside of Daraa, south Syria.
Khaled Sultan Mehamid, a former opposition leader, was shot dead by unidentified individuals, who were riding a motorbike, near the town of al-Yadouda west of Daraa, a local source told North Press.
Mehamid was leading one of the military groups affiliated with The Army of the Revolution, which consisted of several military formations affiliated with the opposition operated in southern Syria, the source added.
The source pointed out that Mehamid, who hailed from the town of Atman north of Daraa, alongside others were submitted to the settlement agreement in 2018, after which he did not join any military formations.
Assassinations dominate the scene in Syria’s southern governorate of Daraa, most of which are filed against unknown persons and they target former members of the opposition factions and those who have been subject to settlement agreements, the last of whom was Mos’ab al-Bardan, who was assassinated on February 10, 2022.
Some Nigerian soldiers have been injured and several others missing after an ambush by militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād in Borno State.
Basheer Sambar, brother of one of the soldiers affected said the attack took place in Maiduguri on Thursday.
Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.
The Nigerian military has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency has been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses.
In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by insurgents.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/26/2022
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An 18-month-old baby died in an icy car crash on a Kentucky bridge after Storm Oaklee swept through the state on Thursday morning, making its way to the Northeast
The death occurred after seven cars crashed on the Tennessee River Bridge along Interstate 24
Toward the north at least six inches of snow will cause havoc for Americans in the interior of New York state and into New England
Warnings of power outages have been issued in parts of Pennsylvania, western Maryland and northern West Virginia where significant icing is possible through Friday
Freezing rain and sleet is set to hit the southern parts of that area including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Hudson Valley and the coastline of New England
So far some 1,326 flights have been canceled today in the US due to the winter storm
#HTS militants deployed several checkpoints in their areas of control in Syria's northwest and tighten the screw on passersby. #Syria#SNAhttps://t.co/iwpF1v9IqK
the cartel puppet is pissed
[Breitbart] President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) called out U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, saying he was misinformed about violence perpetrated against Mexican journalists.
During his Thursday morning news conference, Lopez Obrador took aim at Blinken, telling him to stay out of Mexico’s issues.
“Ask him to become informed and not act in an interfering fashion,” the Mexican president said. “Mexico is not a colony of the U.S. — nor a protectorate.”
The harsh rebuke comes one day after Blinken took to social media to express concern about the number of journalists killed in Mexico. As Breitbart Texas has reported, five journalists were killed in Mexico since the start of 2022.
#1
El Presidente doesn't understand that in El Norte the 'journalists' are minions of The Party. While they treat them like the dogs they are, sometime they need a bone thrown to them to keep them from wandering off.
[DW] Following the Russian attack on Ukraine, NATO has begun to reinforce its eastern flank. The German Bundeswehr is also involved. But critics warn the army is too depleted to act.
BLUF: They’re in slightly better shape than they were, but still nowhere near the promises they used to make so blithely, and in fact planned to cut the military budget again before the Ukraine invasion made it clear there is no more road to kick the can down.
#1
They're a joke, and any attempt to put more money into them will result in the German government being voted out of office by their own people.
When you provide everything for a people with nothing asked in return, they become used to it and do not see it as a boon. To them, it's normal that everything should be peaceful and safe. We look like monsters, and they treat us as such.
#4
"You don't know. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results..."
Dr. Raymond Stantz- Ghostbusters (1984)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2022 7:36
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#5
Not in good shape. In 2020 they had 24 Eurofighters, with only 4 of them combat ready. About the same ratio with their tanks. Troops train without weapons.
All leads up to a troop of angry girl scouts being able to conquer Germany if they wanted. I really hope for Germany's sake they have improved over the past few years.
This really frosted my flakes. We've got Ukrainian kids throwing rocks at Soviet tanks, but our cultural elites can't hande the stress of reading about the Ukrainian kids fighting the Soviet tanks.
While we wait for more information, don't forget to care for yourself in other ways:
Breathe. If you're feeling your body contracting or overheating, step away from whatever you're doing and take a deep breath. Here's a five-finger breathing exercise that can bring you back to the moment. Or if you want to take it a step further, try these meditation and mindfulness exercises for beginners.
Nourish yourself. The kitchen is a safe space for a lot of us. Maybe this is the weekend that you finally re-create Grandpa's famous lasagna, or learn how to make a prettier pie, or maybe just lose yourself in some kitchen organization. Don't have every ingredient for that lovely Deb Perelman dessert?
Apparently she’s a chi-chi food blogger.
Don't stress — we've got you covered on how to make food substitutions, simple.
Stay connected. When the news is scary, it's easy to get lost in our own heads. Reach out to loved ones instead. That could look like sitting down to write an actual letter to a relative, spending time with neighbors, playing (or creating!) games with family, or even taking the time to write down those generational stories. If your little ones are struggling to go to bed at the end of the day, try talking to them about the heavy news head-on.. And blah blah blah. How soft and naive these folks are. Heaven forbid that a shortage of canapés develops.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/26/2022
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[Rudaw] The Iraqi government has repatriated nearly 500 families from Syria's al-Hol camp since mid-2021, a security advisor told Rudaw on Friday, adding that the majority of them are aged under 18.
Iraqis have made up more than half of the population of the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava) for years. Most of the camp's 56,000 residents are wives and children of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) fighters.
Kurdish officials have struggled to manage the camp where tens of Iraqis have been killed in recent years. Iraq began repatriating its citizens last year, despite criticism from some Iraqis and politicians who fear that these people may pose a threat to the security of the country. They have been settled in al-Jada camp in Nineveh province.
"From May 2021 to January 2022, 450 families of nearly 1,780 people have been repatriated - more than 86 percent of whom are aged under 18. We are talking about a community that includes women, children and adults. The centre includes activities and it has a special program for rehabilitation," Saad al-Jayashi, Security Advisor at the Iraqi National Security Advisory, told Rudaw's Mushtaq Ramadhan on Friday
He preferred to call the camp a rehabilitation centre.
"A school has been opened in coordination with UNICEF and the Iraqi Education Ministry," added the advisor, saying about 10 public institutions as well as UN agencies work there.
"One of the challenges we face is that all children, aged between 16 and 17, have never been to school and are illiterate. Therefore, we have coordination with the Education Ministry to open fast learning courses for them," Jayashi said.
He also said so far 192 children have registered for the school and more will register soon. He noted that 72 families of 294 people have been rehabilitated and allowed to return to their homes. The government is working on allowing two other batches to leave the camp to areas they were before migrating in 2014. "Rehabilitation process continues. It takes 90 days [to rehabilitate people]."
The official said that they provide Friday sermons and ideological lessons as well as sports activities to the repatriated people.
The return of these Iraqis was initially postponed after people protested against the repatriation. The Iraqi advisor claimed that the returnees have not caused any issues, but there is "humanitarian suffering."
[IsraelTimes] In Israeli news, four Border Police officers were lightly hurt during riots in the Paleostinian town of Abu Dis, north of Jerusalem during overnight arrests, law enforcement officials say.
As troops entered the town to arrest a "terror suspect," dozens of Paleostinians hurled stones and an improvised bomb (IED) at a police vehicle, causing it damage, police say.
Police say the officers responded with riot dispersal means and warning shots, and the suspect was taken for further investigation. The maimed officers did not require hospitalization.
Also overnight, troops shot and seriously injured a Paleostinian who hurled an IED at soldiers manning the Jalamah checkpoint in the northern West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces says. The soldiers are unharmed, the military says.
The suspect was taken for medical treatment by the Red Islamic Thingy, Paleostinian media reports say.
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, a member of the Military Discipline forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lost his life of his wounds in an attack by unidentified gunmen, targeting their car in the town of eastern Deir ez-Zor, east Syria.
“Tow SDF members lost their lives, and another one was seriously wounded. The injured member was transported to al-Omar Field Hospital for treatment, but he died there,” the source said.
Recently, the city of Hajin has witnessed relative calm compared to the neighboring villages and towns.
In a similar incident, a member of the SDF lost his life and another one was wounded in an armed attack that targeted their car in the town of al-Shuhail, east of Deir ez-Zor, on February 17.
[LiberationNews] The Russian military operation in Ukraine highlights that the world has reached a dangerous fork in the road. It is critically important for people in the United States, who are receiving the bulk of their information from the capitalist media that functions as an echo chamber for the U.S. government, to know that the current crisis is the byproduct of a long effort by the United States to establish absolute domination throughout Europe. The U.S. policy is aimed at undermining Russia’s security by surrounding it with advanced missiles that can reach their Russian targets in less than 10 minutes.
For the last three months, the Russian government simultaneously called for negotiations about their security concerns while at the same time amassing troops at the Russia-Ukraine border and at the border of Ukraine and Belarus. Putin announced that Russia would militarily intervene in Ukraine after the United States and NATO rejected their fundamental demands that Ukraine not be incorporated into NATO and that Ukraine, which shares a 1,200-mile border with Russia, not be used as a staging ground for advanced missiles that target Russia.
In essence, Putin and Russia were demanding that Ukraine be a neutral country and never a member of NATO. It was precisely through the territory of Ukraine that Russia was subjected to the Nazi invasion of World War Two and earlier invasions by Western powers. In World War Two, when Ukraine and Russia were one country (the Soviet Union), more than 27 million people died resisting the Nazi invasion of their homelands.
Continued on Page 49
#1
to know that the current crisis is the byproduct of a long effort by the United States to establish absolute domination throughout Europe.
Cause maybe twice in the previous century that same Europe dragged America into its unending tribal wars at the cost of hundreds of thousands of its citizens and resources that could have been more usefully employed at home.
#2
The quality of Russian trolls has really declined since M Ferret. How many devalued Rubles for a cut and paste job?
In case you were wonder WTH is PSL? Wikipedia:
The PSL, which initially had around 40 members, was formed when the San Francisco branch and other members left the Workers World Party in June 2004, announcing that "the Workers World Party leadership is no longer capable of fulfilling [the] mission" of building socialism. Its co-founders included Richard Becker and Gloria La Riva.
#3
Mutual defense agreements between sovereign nations are now imperialism?
Commies GFY.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/26/2022 19:14
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#4
The plight of ethnic Russians, especially those in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine....
Has the Ukraine actively prevented these folks from moving into Russia? Why didn't Putin just offer them cash to move and save his military.... oh, because that's just a cover story for the rubes.
[Epoch Times] The mandate required all Defence Force personnel and all Police constables, recruits, and authorized officers to receive two doses of the vaccine by March 1.
[Justice] Cooke, in a judgment (pdf) released on Friday in New Zealand, did not accept some of the applicants’ arguments but agreed that the mandate "is not a reasonable limit on rights that can be demonstrably justified" and set the order aside.
"I conclude that the Order does not involve a reasonable limit on the applicants’ rights that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society and that it is unlawful," Cooke said.
"The order limits the right to be free to refuse medical treatment recognized by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (including because of its limitation on people’s right to remain employed), and it limits the right to manifest religious beliefs for those who decline to be vaccinated because the vaccine has been tested on cells derived from a human fetus which is contrary to their religious beliefs," Cooke said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2022
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[Western Journal] During a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018, then-President Donald Trump was asked whether he believed the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that the Russians had meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help him win.
"I don’t see any reason why it would be. President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump replied, according to Reuters.
The backlash was quick and severe. The media reported that Trump had thrown U.S. intelligence agencies under the bus. He was Putin’s puppet. He was weak.
The president was attacked mercilessly even by members of the Republican Party.
Well, video from a NATO summit a few days earlier in Brussels shows, in spite of the massive condemnation that came his way following the news conference, it wasn’t Trump who was soft on Russia.
#1
From a few days ago: Trump talks about Putin, mocking Merkel and more at Mar-a-Lago
There are other stories making the rounds, too, and they are even more provocative. One has it that Trump — noting that Putin seized land from Georgia when George W. Bush was president and seized the Crimean peninsula when Barack Obama was president — warned Putin against a land grab on his watch.
“If you move against Ukraine while I’m president,” Trump is said to have told the Russian leader, “I will hit Moscow.”
Putin reportedly scoffed, “No way,” leading Trump to say, “All those beautiful golden turrets will be blown up.”
A similar story involves Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was during his visit to Mar-a-Lago in 2017 when Trump famously interrupted their chocolate cake dessert to declare he had just ordered the US military to fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base after the Syrian government used chemical weapons against rebels and civilians.
During that same visit, Trump reportedly told Xi that any military move against Taiwan would be met with an attack on Beijing. Xi, like Putin, is said to have been stunned, though it is possible neither man believed Trump was serious. While it is also possible that both accounts are exaggerated, it is a fact that neither man made the moves Trump is said to have warned against.
“I got along best with the tougher ones” is how he summarized his relations with foreign leaders.
Shafaq News/ On Friday, a security source revealed that ISIS intends to carry out attacks against visitors participating in the visit of Musa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim (the seventh Imam in Twelver Shia Islam.)
In a condition of anonymity, the source told Shafaq News Agency, "according to Intelligence, an ISIS member, from the Mada'in district, (the state of the south in ISIS terms) handed over four suicide vests to another terrorist in Al-Nahda Garage area.
Our source said that ISIS plans to use these vests in targeting visitors of Imam Musa Al-Kadhim in Al-Kadhimiya, Baghdad, within the next 48 hours.
In 2017, Iraq declared final victory over ISIS after Iraqi forces drove its last remnants from the country, three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq's territory.
Yet, ISIS still has sleeper cells in several Iraqi Governorates.
Its fighters are making a comeback with kidnap and killing; the latest massive reactivation incident was when two ISIS men blew themselves up in a crowded Baghdad market on January 2021, killing at least 32 people in Iraq's first extensive suicide bombing for three years.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/26/2022
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Could have been friendly fire. Lots of Buk-M2E's in the news.
...hereditary prime minister of the same country that once produced McKenzie King...
/\ Fok these communist bastids, they are the enemy. They have always been the enemy. Close down the Walmarts and Home Depot's until they can re-stock with American made goods. I am sick of these threatening tyrants and their global mischief.
...not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] 
Americans consider politics an anathema to society. The war weary Germans consider militarization an anathema to their society. 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
[Epoch Times] The mandate required all Defence Force personnel and all Police constables, recruits, and authorized officers to receive two doses of the vaccine by March 1.
