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Cannon Fodder: Number of Ukrainian Amputee Soldiers Going Through the Roof

SILVER SPRING, MD – NOVEMBER 10: Aleksander Fedun, one of the Ukrainian soldiers getting replacement limbs at Medical Center Orthotics and Prosthetics in Silver Spring, MD, takes his first few steps on new prosthetics. (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Ekaterina Blinova, 21 Sept 23

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have become amputees, while many more sustained other injuries or died on the battlefield. The scale of amputations in Ukraine has reached that of the First World War, according to Western media.

Between 20,000 and 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost one or more limbs since the beginning of the conflict, Western press has reported.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense recently announced that 40% of wounded Ukrainian soldiers have serious limb injuries that appear to be incurable.

However, it is difficult to know for sure how many Ukrainian soldiers have disabilities, because this information is top secret, according to a Norwegian media outlet.

A commonly cited ratio for dead and injured in wars is 2-4 people wounded for each person killed. Sometimes, the number of those wounded may be 13 times as high depending on what weapons systems are used on the battlefield. One could easily calculate what price Ukrainians paid for the counteroffensive encouraged and sponsored by the West.

As per the Russian Defense Ministry, over 71,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed during the three months of the Kiev regime’s counteroffensive.

Given that Ukraine and Russia have been involved in high-scale counter-battery duels since the outset of the conflict, most of the wounds at the front have been caused by shrapnel and artillery fire, military personnel and war correspondents have said. Meanwhile, Ukrainians also sustained heavy losses while trying to storm Russia’s sophisticated defense lines and minefields, which have been largely blamed by the Western press for the failure of the Kiev regime’s offensive operations.

Ukrainian Amputees Evoke Scale of WWI

Western journalists assume that during 18 months of the special military operation in Ukraine, there have been at least 10 times the number of Ukrainian amputees than Americans with the same sort of injuries over 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

For their part, US medical experts say that injuries of this magnitude had not been seen by Western military surgeons since World War II. The First World War saw at least 67,000 Germans and 41,000 British amputees, according to some estimates.

Several clinics in Ukraine cite 20,000 amputee cases, but the actual figure may be higher as it takes time to register patients after undergoing the amputation procedure, per the media. Some patients have to wait for weeks or even months for the surgery as the Ukrainian healthcare system is overwhelmed.

During the unfolding conflict, the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered a scale of losses for which the army’s medical service was unprepared, Tetiana Ostashchenko, commander of the Medical Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told a Ukrainian broadcaster on August 26.

“Neither the legislative framework nor the system itself was designed for such volumes of medical care,” Ostashchenko stressed.

She said that new problems emerge every day and despite the nation’s healthcare system trying to solve them, it is not working as quickly as required.

To complicate matters further, the battlefield first aid straps used by Ukrainian during combat to stem bleeding, are often fitted too high to the injured limb and left on for too long. As a result, the cells in the limb die and a whole arm or leg will need to be removed instead of just part of it. What’s worse, sometimes these surgeries are done in horrific conditions, according to the British press.

Prosthetics is yet another problem faced by Ukrainian military amputees. One arm could cost $100,000 while a hook in place of a hand is an additional $8,000. A number of Western charities help some Ukrainian soldiers to get new artificial limbs but there are too many amputees returning from the battlefield.

Kiev Throws Ukrainians Into ‘Meat Grinder’

Previously, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Nikolai Azarov stated that Kiev is deliberately hiding the figures of real losses in order to avoid payments to the families of fallen soldiers, attributing them to the number of missing people instead.

There have also been cases when wounded Ukrainian soldiers were left to die by their fellows on the battlefield. On September 12, captured Ukrainian serviceman Yevgeny Zinovik told Sputnik that he had been abandoned by the Ukrainian military and laid on the ground suffering from wounds for four days, until Russian reconnaissance officers found him. Zinovik confessed that he was glad to be captured after all this suffering. He said that he had undergone treatment in a Donetsk hospital.

………………………………………………………………………….. Ukrainians Hide Abroad or Surrender

A glaring indicator of Kiev running out of military personnel is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s order to conduct a full review of all mobilization exemptions granted by Military Medical Commissions (MMCs) starting from February 24, 2022.

In addition to bringing young and elderly to the front, the Kiev regime has requested European states extradite Ukrainian draft-age adults. However, EU states are resisting those requests, citing European laws that prevent them from deporting refugees or altogether refusing to send Ukrainians back home. One should bear in mind that Ukrainians are a source of cheap labor in Europe…………………..
 https://sputnikglobe.com/20230921/cannon-fodder-number-of-ukrainian-amputee-soldiers-going-through-the-roof-1113563445.html

September 24, 2023 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

US government and media lying about Ukrainian counteroffensive – Seymour Hersh

 https://www.rt.com/russia/583351-ukraine-counteroffensive-failed-hersh/ 21 Sept 23

A source has told the veteran reporter that Kiev and Washington are deceiving the public about the situation on the ground

US intelligence analysts believe that Ukraine has given up on its counteroffensive against Russia and the only thing prolonging the conflict is the unwillingness of Washington and Kiev to acknowledge its failure, a source has told investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

Writing on Substack on Thursday, the veteran reporter cited an unnamed source, who “spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying” as rejecting the Ukrainian narrative about slow but steady progress in its counteroffensive.

“‘It’s all lies,’” the source said, according to Hersh. “‘The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going.’”

This sentiment is shared by many figures in the US intelligence community, and the CIA in particular has been skeptical of Kiev’s claims of a continued push forward, unlike the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), he explained.

Trent Maul, the director of analysis for the DIA, touted Ukraine’s success to The Economist earlier this month and claimed Kiev’s forces had a “realistic” chance to break through Russian defense lines this year. The British outlet contrasted the assessment with that of an unnamed senior US intelligence official, who said the battlefield “could look broadly similar” in five years.

The source cited by Hersh blasted the leadership in both Moscow and Washington for acting “stupid” during the crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin got “provoked [into] violating the UN charter” with a poorly-prepared military campaign, he argued. US President Joe Biden retaliated with a proxy war and has had to rely on the vilification of Putin by the media “in order to justify our mistake.”

“The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren’t willing to die any more, but this doesn’t fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House,” the source concluded.

Moscow has denied the US claim that the operation against Ukraine was an act of “unprovoked aggression,” insisting that the people of Donbass had the right of self-determination under the UN Charter and acted accordingly when they broke away from Ukraine after the 2014 armed coup in Kiev.

The Russian government has maintained that it acted lawfully when it recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luganks People’s Republics in February 2022. Days later, after Kiev refused to stop attacks on Donbass and pull out its troops, Moscow launched its offensive.

September 24, 2023 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

If Fukushima water is safe, store it in Japan, says Prime Minister of Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands acknowledges ‘inconclusive,’ IAEA report on Japan nuclear waste

If Fukushima water is safe, store it in Japan, says Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare

Riyaz ul Khaliq  |23.09.2023 ISTANBUL  https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/solomon-islands-acknowledges-inconclusive-iaea-report-on-japan-nuclear-waste/2999123

The Solomon Islands acknowledged a Friday that a report released by the UN nuclear watchdog on Fukushima radioactive water was “inconclusive,” but launched into a scathing criticism about Japan for the release of nuclear waste into the sea.

“We note IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency) assessment report is inconclusive and that the scientific data shared remains inadequate, incomplete and biased,” Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“Solomon Islands stands with like-minded Pacific islanders and is appalled by Japan’s decision to discharge over a million tons of treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean,” he said.

Tokyo began releasing nuclear waste from the crippled Fukushima power plant last month, triggering severe reaction from China, which banned seafood imports from Japan.

Ahead of Japan’s release of nuclear waste, the IAEA released a report that claimed Tokyo’s move would have no effect on human and marine life.

But it neither recommended nor backed Japan’s decision.

Sogavare said “concerns were ignored.”

“If this nuclear waste water is safe, it should be stored in Japan. The fact that is dumped into the ocean shows that it is not safe,” he told the UN.

He urged Japan to stop the release of the radioactive water and said: “The effect of this act is transboundary and intergenerational and is

an attack on global trust and solidarity.”

“The increased warming and acidification of the ocean against the discharge of treated nuclear water over a period of 30 plus years poses worrying risks for our people’s wellbeing and future,

“If we are to rebuild trust and reignite global solidarity, we must be honest and frank in protecting our oceans which is the lifeblood of our people,” said Sogavare.

September 24, 2023 Posted by | OCEANIA, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Possibly contaminated iron scraps from near Fukushima plant sold

 Workers at a demolition site near the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant took and sold iron scraps from waste possibly
contaminated with radioactive materials, Environment Ministry officials
said Tuesday. Workers at a subcontractor of Kajima, tasked with the
demolition, took the scraps without permission, violating the process of
dealing with contaminated waste as stipulated by law.

 Japan Times 20th Sept 2023

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/09/20/japan/fukushima-iron-scraps-radioactive-material/

September 24, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

‘Biden’s phase’ of Ukraine war is beginning

This Week, Blinken explicitly stated for the first time that the US would not oppose Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory, a move that Moscow has previously called a “red line,” which would make Washington a direct party to the conflict. 

 BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR Indian Punchline

The ground war in Ukraine has run its course, a new phase is beginning. Even diehard supporters of Ukraine in the western media and think tanks are admitting that a military victory over Russia is impossible and a vacation of the territory under Russian control is way beyond Kiev’s capability.

Hence the ingenuity of the Biden Administration to explore Plan B counselling Kiev to be realistic about loss of territory and pragmatically seek dialogue with Moscow. This was the bitter message that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken transmitted to Kiev recently in person. 

But President Zelensky’s caustic reaction in a subsequent interview with the Economist magazine is revealing. He hit back that the western leaders still talk the good talk, pledging they will stand with Ukraine “as long as it takes” (Biden mantra), but he, Zelensky, has detected a change of mood among some of his partners: “I have this intuition, reading, hearing and seeing their eyes [when they say] ‘we’ll be always with you.’ But I see that he or she is not here, not with us.” Certainly, Zelensky is reading the body language right, as in the absence of an overwhelming military success shortly, western support for Ukraine is time-limited.

Zelensky knows that sustaining the western support will be difficult. Yet he hopes that if not Americans, European Union will at least keep supplying aid, and but may open negotiations over the accession process for Ukraine possibly even at its summit in December. But he also held out a veiled threat of terrorist threat to Europe — warning that it would not be a “good story” for Europe if it were to “drive these people [of Ukraine] into a corner”. So far such ominous threats were muted, originating from low ranking activists of the fascist Bandera fringe.

But Europe has its limits, too. The western stockpiles of weapons are exhausted and Ukraine is a bottomless pit. Importantly, conviction is lacking whether continued supplies would make any difference to the proxy war that is unwinnable. Besides, European economies are in doldrum,’ the recession in Germany may slide into depression, with profound consequences of “deindustrialisation.” 

Suffice to say, Zelensky’s visit to the White House in the coming days becomes a defining moment. The Biden Administration is in a sombre mood that the proxy war is hindering a full-throttle Indo-Pacific strategy against China. Yet, during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Blinken explicitly stated for the first time that the US would not oppose Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory, a move that Moscow has previously called a “red line,” which would make Washington a direct party to the conflict. 

The well-known American military historian, strategic thinker and combat veteran Colonel (Retd.) Douglas MacGregor (who served as advisor to the Pentagon during the Trump administration), is prescient when he says that a new “Biden’s phase of the war” is about to begin. That is to say, having run out of ground forces, the locus will now shift to long-range strike weapons like the Storm Shadow, Taurus,  ATACMS long-range missiles, etc. 

The US is considering sending ATACMS long-range missiles that Ukraine has been asking for a long time with the capability to strike deep inside Russian territory. The most provocative part is that NATO reconnaissance platforms, both manned and unmanned, will be used in such operations, making the US a virtual co-belligerent. 

Russia has been exercising restraint in attacking the source of such enemy capabilities but how long such restraint will continue is anybody’s guess………………………………………………………… more https://www.indianpunchline.com/bidens-phase-of-ukraine-war-is-beginning/

September 24, 2023 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Okinawa Disproves The US Narrative About Overseas Bases

Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix, CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, SEP 22, 2023

Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki has implored the UN for international backing in his opposition to the prefecture being overrun with US military bases.

The Japan Times reports:

“I am here today to ask the world to witness the situation in Okinawa,” Tamaki told a session of the world body’s Human Rights Council, arguing that the concentration of the military bases there threatens peace.

Tamaki, the first Okinawa governor in eight years to address the council, said, “The reclamation work proceeds despite the fact that it was clearly opposed by Okinawan voters in a democratically held referendum.”

Whenever I talk about the rapidly increasing number of US military bases and operations surrounding China I get empire simps telling me “But the people in those countries WANT us there!” Okinawa shows it’s always been a nonconsensual relationship disguised as a consensual one.

And it should here be noted that Japan’s national government was itself the product of extensive US manipulation after World War II. A 1994 New York Times article titled “C.I.A. Spent Millions to Support Japanese Right in 50’s and 60’s” details the massive amount of energy the US intelligence cartel poured into stomping down the Japan Socialist Party and ensuring that the Japanese right wing “maintained their one-party rule, forged close ties with Washington and fought off public opposition to the United States’ maintaining military bases throughout Japan.”  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/okinawa-disproves-the-us-narrative?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=137283613&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email

September 24, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | | Leave a comment

Our nuclear legacy and the weight of history

Sep. 22, 2023, Nancy Dickeman,  https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/our-nuclear-legacy-and-the-weight-of-history/

The bus plowed through dust on the road winding through the Hanford Site, the horizon dotted with specters of reactors that had been dismantled or “cocooned.” All seats full, the bus was a mishmash of Richland natives like my sisters and me, returning home for the experience; locals; other nuclear tourists; and visitors from Japan.

The route through the nuclear production complex took me on what I imagined my father’s trip to work at the area had been, through a desolation that held its own beauty. It was also through ancestral tribal lands that had been confiscated in 1943 from Native American tribes — the Wanapum Tribe, Nez Perce, the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation — to create the nuclear complex. The guide pointed out hills, like Mooli Mooli, meaning “little stacked hills,” that rolled beyond us, a sacred tribal site. Tribal members have battled the government for access per their treaty rights, and have been crucial in the cleanup process.

Outside a tank storage facility, we briefly exited the bus. Over 56 million gallons of radioactive waste is held in 177 underground containers; approximately two-thirds of the tanks have leaked, and at least 1 million gallons of highly radioactive waste have seeped into the ground. Over 40 years, Hanford produced the plutonium for nearly two-thirds of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

We passed the burial site of the core of a nuclear submarine. It might seem an unusual burial object, except that such submarines represent another nuclear legacy for Washington, with eight Trident submarines stationed at the Bangor Base, each carrying multiple nuclear weapons with many times the destructive power of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

At the B Reactor — its huge block building and companion spire visible from a distance — we saw where plutonium for the Trinity test (depicted in the film “Oppenheimer”) and Fat Man, the world’s second atomic bomb, was produced. Entering the vast chamber, we were carefully guided to the displays: Control panels. An office where toilet paper was distributed for workers to take home. A giant wall of graphite and tubes.

The Fat Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after Hiroshima was devastated by Little Boy. Both bombs created instant death: Children turned to shadows and birds burned in the air. Over 200,000 people were killed. Thousands more suffered for years after, including infants born with birth defects.

In Washington, that history is remembered. Richland holds a remembrance ceremony each Aug. 9 along the Columbia River for the bombing’s victims. In Seattle, From Hiroshima to Hope, one of the largest commemorations outside Japan, is held each Aug. 6, with candlelit lanterns on Green Lake carrying messages of peace and hope.

We were coming to the end of our drive through lands where we’d never been, and where we’d never been allowed. Past vast horizons and sagebrush, past a building that changed the world.   

When we rolled to our final stop at the visitors’ center outside of Richland, the bus deposited us back on solid ground. To the heat. To a single bright sun. To a film of dust rising from dust devils coating our arms, our newly knowledgeable faces.

Reflecting on the tour, I was left with a sense of urgency. The government must prioritize funding, timelines and worker safety for cleanup.

Carrying the weight of history, we can strive for a future where diplomacy and treaties take precedence. We can stop funding development and production of new nuclear weapons. We can take steps to ensure that nuclear weapons are never again used — that nuclear explosions remain in the past.

September 24, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nearly 10 million Ukrainians have fled to EU – commissioner

 https://www.rt.com/news/583216-eu-number-ukraine-refugees/ 21 Sep 23

The collective bloc is the biggest host of those leaving the country, according to Thierry Breton’s numbers

The EU migration crisis is a challenge that should be handled not by a single European country or region, but by the entire bloc as it deals with millions of asylum seekers, particularly from Ukraine, Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for Internal Market, has said.

Speaking to Sud Radio on Monday, the official suggested that migration – which has recently been on the rise, especially in Italy – “affects us all,” including southern and eastern countries. “We have welcomed … almost 10 million Ukrainian refugees,” he said, adding that the Czech Republic stands out in  terms of the number of people it has hosted.

……… In early March 2022, shortly after the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, the EU for the first time in its history invoked the Temporary Protection Directive, which can be used only in exceptional circumstances to deal with a “mass influx of refugees.” 

The legislation guarantees Ukrainians access to accommodation, welfare, and healthcare and gives them the right to enter the labor market, and enroll children in educational institutions.

In terms of absolute numbers, Russia accommodates the most Ukrainian refugees (1.27 million), followed by Germany (1.09 million), and Poland (968,000), according to Statista.

Breton’s comments come as some 7,000 migrants swarmed the small Italian island of Lampedusa last week, which itself has a population of less than 7,000 people. Local mayor Filippo Mannino said that the crisis had reached a “point of no return,” while the UN Refugee Agency described the situation as “critical,” adding that moving people off the island was “an absolute priority.”

According to official data, more than 127,000 refugees have arrived in Italy as of September this year, double the number for the same period in 2022.

September 24, 2023 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment