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Graphic Videos and Incitement: How the IDF Is Misleading Israelis on Telegram

The IDF unit responsible for psychological warfare operations operates a Telegram channel called ’72 Virgins – Uncensored,’ which targets local audiences with ‘exclusive content from the Gaza Strip’

The IDF Operations Directorate’s Influencing Department, which is responsible for psychological warfare operations against the enemy and foreign audiences, operates a Telegram channel called 72 Virgins – Uncensored, which targets Israeli audiences and shows the bodies of Hamas terrorists with the promise of “shattering the terrorists’ fantasy.”…………………………………………… (subscribers only) more https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2023-12-12/ty-article/.premium/graphic-videos-and-incitement-how-the-idf-is-misleading-israelis-on-telegram/0000018c-5ab5-df2f-adac-febd01c30000

December 14, 2023 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Causing Gaza Blackouts, Israel Benefits from Media Double Standards

JULIANNE TVETEN, https://fair.org/home/causing-gaza-blackouts-israel-benefits-from-media-double-standards/ 13 Dec 23

As part of its escalating siege and bombing campaign against Palestinians—in which more than 18,000 people have been killed and roughly 1.9 million displaced—Israel has repeatedly disabled internet and phone service throughout Gaza. Israel’s airstrikes and fuel blockades have devastated the region’s communications infrastructure, depriving more than 2 million Gazans of access to lifesaving information, emergency services and contact with those outside their immediate vicinity, while preventing journalists from reporting on the situation. Since the first blackouts occurred shortly after Hamas’s attacks on October 7, residents have suffered multiple outages.

Israel as innocent bystander 

In recent weeks, Israel-allied media have minimized Israel’s culpability, portraying the shutoffs more as an unforeseeable act of nature than a deliberate act of military aggression.

News sources have rightfully informed readers of the telecommunications void in Gaza. A headline from the Washington Post (10/28/23) read, “No Text, No Talk: Palestinians Plunged Into Digital Darkness in Gaza.” The following month, an Associated Press (11/16/23) dispatch covering a separate shutoff announced that “Under a Communication Blackout, Gaza’s 2.3 Million People Are Cut Off From Each Other and the World.” But judging by these passive-voice alerts, one would have no idea Israel was involved.

Additionally, though the Post promptly alluded to the shutoffs as a “tool of war,” the paper waited 10 paragraphs to assign blame to Israel, noting that “Israel knocked out cell towers, cable lines and infrastructure…creating the near-blackout of connectivity.” AP also hedged and buried its mentions of Israel’s responsibility, explaining that a lack of fuel—caused by Israel’s obstruction of fuel deliveries to Gaza, which AP waited two dozen paragraphs to address—paralyzed the region’s internet and phone network.

To further obscure the cause-and-effect relationship of Israel’s violence and Gaza’s infrastructural ruin, media have presented the two as parallel occurrences. Wired (10/27/23) announced that cables, cell towers and other equipment “have been damaged or destroyed as Israel launched thousands of missiles in response to Hamas.” The New York Times (10/29/23) offered a similar construction: “As Israeli forces entered Gaza on Friday to fight Hamas, phone and internet service was severed.” NPR (10/30/23) contributed its own version, stating, “At the same time Israel intensified its assault on Gaza, internet and phone service suddenly dropped.”

‘Complete siege’

These framings are astonishingly charitable to Israel, given the available documentation of its actions. After promising a “complete siege” of Gaza in early October, Israeli officials ordered cuts to electricity, fuel supplies, food and water (Guardian, 10/11/23), amounting to a war crime. On October 10, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed that Israeli airstrikes “targeted several telecommunication installations” in Gaza. Days later, an Israeli Communications Ministry press release listed “an ongoing examination and preparation for the shutting down of cellular communications and internet services to Gaza” in a summary of its operations.

This aggression is enabled by Israel’s seizure and decades-long weakening of Palestinian communications infrastructure, which has rendered Palestinian networks highly vulnerable to damage. According to the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media:

Since the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967, Israel took complete control of the [Information and Communication Technologies] infrastructure and sector in the West Bank and Gaza, impeding development and blocking the establishment of an independent network, instead making Palestinians entirely dependent on the Israeli occupation authorities.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Palestinian telecom companies have attributed the outages to “deliberate actions perpetrated by Israeli authorities.”

Enemies as sinister masterminds

In contrast to their Israel coverage, US and US-allied media waste no time identifying alleged culprits of internet shutdowns in non-allied countries.

Reporting on protests over rising fuel prices, the New York Times (11/17/19) ran the headline “Iran Blocks Nearly All Internet Access.” The active voice in the story’s lead clearly indicated responsibility: “Iran imposed an almost complete nationwide internet blackout on Sunday,” in order to “cut off Iranians” amid “widespread government unrest.” 

An adjective elsewhere in the lede—“draconian”—which, though it undoubtedly applies to Israel, is almost unimaginable in corporate media discussions of the 75-year US ally (FAIR.org, 10/20/23, 11/15/23, 11/17/23).AP (7/12/21) adopted equally decisive language in a piece scolding Cuba for supposedly blocking social media sites during a protest. The agency insisted that “restricting internet access has become a tried-and-true method of stifling dissent by authoritarian regimes around the world,” a category under which China and North Korea, too, evidently fell.

And, months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, media were swift to caution of the occupying force’s ambitions to wrest control of Ukrainian networks. According to Wired (6/15/22), Russia was “Taking Over Ukraine’s Internet” by rerouting Ukraine’s online traffic through “Vladimir Putin’s powerful online censorship machine.” The New York Times (8/9/22) echoed these charges, characterizing the action as “part of a Russian authoritarian playbook that is likely to be replicated further if they take more Ukrainian territory.”

Defying evidence (or lack thereof)

In many cases, US and Western media’s assertions of enemies’ digital repression lack or contradict evidence. The AP (7/12/21) report on Cuba, for example, called the disruption an instance of a “go-to tactic to suppress dissent.” The agency’s quantitative source was data from NetBlocks, a London-based internet monitoring organization commonly cited in Western reporting on global online access, including that in Gaza (Al Jazeera, 12/4/23).

But the referenced information didn’t support all of the AP’s claims. The tech-news site Rest of World (7/14/21)—hardly a Castroite publication—found no conclusive proof that the outage was planned. A source from network monitoring company Kentik told the site that the interruption “could either happen deliberately or due to a technical failure,” adding that “internet measurement data alone”—which NetBlocks and Kentik used to gauge online activity in Cuba—“can’t tell the difference.” (The AP also neglected to mention the US’s record of limiting Cuban internet access.)

In a particularly egregious example, Foreign Policy (2/21/23) accused China of muffling internet service for Taiwan’s Matsu Islands, in what “looks like targeted harassment by Beijing.” This assumption was based on reported incidents in which a Chinese fishing vessel and freighter cut undersea cables on separate occasions. No conspiracy was confirmed; Foreign Policy itself acknowledged that a Taiwanese official “told reporters that there was no indication the incidents were intentional.” Still, this didn’t deter the magazine from trumpeting, “China Is Practicing How to Sever Taiwan’s Internet.”

Meanwhile, Western media have access to ample evidence that Israel willfully throttles, disables and bombs the communications networks it has usurped—in part to mute those who might challenge its official narratives (Al Jazeera, 11/9/23; NBC News, 11/11/23)—and displaces and kills the people who depend on them.

And yet those same media contort and trivialize that evidence to obfuscate Israel’s offenses. Apparently, sabotage of essential lines of communication for a beleaguered population doesn’t constitute subjugation—as long as the saboteur is a friend of the right countries.

December 14, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ukraine asking US for military aid that doesn’t exist – New York Times


 https://www.rt.com/russia/588944-ukraine-us-military-aide/ 13 Dec 23

Kiev has “unrealistic expectations” about what Washington can provide, American officials told the outlet

Ukrainian commanders and civilian officials overestimate the ability of the US to supply the country with weapons and ammo amid the conflict with Russia and are asking for things that simply don’t exist, American officials have told the New York Times.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has provided Kiev with $111 billion in military and economic assistance since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. However, the White House recently warned that funds for the government of Vladimir Zelensky had almost run out, with hardline Republican lawmakers blocking the approval of another $106 billion ‘national security package’ for Ukraine and Israel.

Many in Kiev still “do not realize how precarious continued US funding for the war is,” the NYT said in an article on Monday. The unnamed US officials, who talked to the paper, insisted that “Ukraine will have to fight on a tighter budget.”

Some Ukrainian decision-makers have “unrealistic expectations about what the US will supply,” the sources said. “They are asking for millions of rounds of artillery, for example, from Western stockpiles that do not exist.”

After the failure of Kiev’s counteroffensive, the US and Ukraine are currently trying to work out “a new strategy,” the implementation of which is expected to begin in early 2024 in order to “revive Kiev’s fortunes,” the officials said.

According to the report, they are unable to find common ground so far. Washington wants Kiev to just focus on holding onto the territory it still controls, while building up forces and supplies over the course of the next year.

However, the Ukrainian military appears eager to continue to attack the Russian army on the ground or through airstrikes in order to “score symbolic victories” that they believe would attract more attention to the conflict around the globe, the sources explained.

“The stakes are huge” because “without both a new strategy and additional funding … Ukraine could lose the war,” the officials warned.

Amid discussions on the new strategy, the Pentagon has decided that Lieutenant General Antonio A. Aguto Jr, who oversees aid to Ukraine from a base in Germany, is going to spend lengthy periods of time on the ground in Kiev, they added.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that deliveries of weapons to Ukraine by the West will only prolong the fighting and increase the risk of a direct military confrontation between Russia and NATO. Russian officials have also argued that the provision of arms, intelligence-sharing, and training Ukrainian troops means that the US and its allies have already become de facto parties to the conflict.

Speaking about the dependence of Kiev on Western aid, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops were “running out of [everything]” because “they don’t have their own base.”

“When you don’t have your own base, don’t have your own ideology, don’t have your own industry, don’t have your own money, don’t have anything of your own, then there is no future,” Putin stated.

December 14, 2023 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Third EU state objects to Ukrainian membership talks


 https://www.rt.com/news/588948-austria-ukraine-eu-membership/ 13 Dec 23

Austria has joined Hungary and Slovakia in opposing fast track procedures for accepting Ukraine and Moldova into the union

There should be no preferential treatment for Ukraine in regards to its path to becoming a member of the European Union, Austrian Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer said during a government meeting on Monday.

His statement came in response to proposals from the European Commission to launch accession talks with Ukraine as soon as possible. However, after opposition from Hungary and Slovakia, EC President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday that the bloc’s leaders would only discuss “the opening of accession negotiations, not accession itself” at the upcoming European Council summit this week.

Answering questions from members of Austria’s EU Main Committee, Nehammer stated that his country was generally in favor of EU enlargement and agreed to offering Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova accession prospects.

However, he insisted that there should be no “fast-track procedure” for the two states and that internal EU reforms would also be needed to prepare the bloc for enlargement. He stressed that Austria would not agree to any accession talks with Ukraine under the current conditions.

Nehammer also noted that von der Leyen had not consulted with him or any other EU leaders before issuing a recommendation last month to open formal membership talks with Ukraine, arguing that it had made significant progress in internal reforms to warrant such a step.

This recommendation was also met with opposition by Slovakia and Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban called it “unfounded and poorly prepared.” Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar also stated that he “couldn’t imagine” Kiev joining the union while it was still in a “state of war,” noting that its membership was still “terribly far away.”

Kiev, meanwhile, has insisted that it has already fulfilled all the key requirements in its bid to join the bloc and demanded that EU members “play fairly” and recognize its efforts.

“We can jump, we can dance if that is requested in addition,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, insisting that “If we are told to do something, and we do that, that must be registered as a result.”

For years, the Ukrainian government has cited accession to the bloc as one of its priorities, with little actual progress made. Ukraine officially applied for membership in February 2022, days after Russia launched its military operation.

December 14, 2023 Posted by | EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment

Ukraine ready to ban country’s largest Christian church – parliament speaker

 https://www.rt.com/russia/588975-ukraine-orthodox-church-ban/ 13 Dec 23

Legislation outlawing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) over alleged links to Russia should apparently be passed in early 2024

A bill that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the largest Christian church in the country, could be passed in early 2024, the speaker of the parliament in Kiev, Ruslan Stefanchuk, has said.

Ukrainian authorities have long accused the UOC of having ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, despite the religious organization condemning Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and announcing its autonomy from Moscow shortly after the escalation of the conflict in February 2022.

When asked about the legislation during a TV appearance on Rada TV on Tuesday, Stefanchuk said that “the committee must make the necessary decisions, carry out consultations, and accept it as a proposal in the second reading.”

“I hope that this issue might be settled in the beginning of the next year,” the speaker stressed.

The legislation, which had been prepared on the order of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, passed its first reading in the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, in October. The bill would allow authorities to ban the UOC if an expert review panel confirms its connections with Russia. It garnered the support of 267 out of 450 MPs.

The Church, which has millions of followers across Ukraine, condemned the legislation, saying that it goes against the Ukrainian Constitution and violates religious freedom.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has also called upon religious leaders and international organizations to intervene to stop “mass violations of religious rights of the followers of the UOC.” The actions of Ukrainian authorities were “on par with the most sinister God-fighting regimes of the past,” he insisted.

The administration of President Zelensky supports the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which had been created by Ukrainian authorities shortly after the western-backed coup in 2014 that installed a pro-Western government. The emergence of the OCU, considered non-canonical by the Russian Orthodox Church, prompted years of religious tensions in the country.

Since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Ukrainian authorities and activists have been seizing the UOC’s places of worship and handing them over to the government-backed OCU. For instance, the UOC’s monks were evicted from the country’s holiest Orthodox site, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

According to Tass news agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has launched 65 criminal cases against UOC priests; 17 clerics have faced sanctions, and 19 of them were stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship.

December 14, 2023 Posted by | politics, Ukraine | Leave a comment

As nuclear powers restart the arms race, unarmed nations call for reason

The Hill, BY STEPHEN BLANK, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 12/13/23

For advocates of arms control and nuclear nonproliferation, these are times of great foreboding. The arms control edifice, painstakingly erected by the U.S. and the USSR during the Cold War, seems to be dead in the water. Virtually all the existing treaties are being broken, ignored, bypassed or terminated.  

In February, Russia suspended its participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, and revoked its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. Senate also refused to ratify. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that has just entered into force is in danger of being sidelined by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Simultaneously, the international nuclear security architecture is under pressure from the expanding nuclear arsenals and tense negotiations between Beijing and Washington.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was to be the result of the idealism of smaller, non-nuclear powers, such as Austria, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Mexico and South Africa, which would create a legal and actionable means of prohibiting nuclear weapons. Nobody can deny that moving humanity away from collective nuclear suicide is a good thing. In an ideal world, it would be a commendable step forward.

It is also no coincidence that this treaty’s signatories have suffered directly from nuclear testing and associated ecological damage. Their visceral understanding that nuclear testing is a threat to humanity is not just born out of a desire to improve international security architecture, but also a deep-seated reaction against past tragedy. The fallout of past nuclear tests provides stark evidence of what happens when nuclear nonproliferation becomes an afterthought.

One of the key champions of the new treaty is Kazakhstan. The country was home to Semipalatinsk, the massive test site for the Soviet nuclear program, and its ecology has been forever scarred by the Soviet Union’s wanton disregard for public health via mismanagement of the fallout and the disposal of nuclear waste.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin withdrew Russia’s ratification of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and hinted at restarting nuclear testing, Kazakhstan’s citizenry responded with a solemn warning: “Let us be a lesson.” Russia’s walkout from the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty reopens possibilities for it to test nuclear weapons in the open air. Indeed Putin has warned that he is prepared to resume nuclear testing.

This specific threat of atomic weapons testing and the more general growing threat of nuclear use caused the signatories of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to come together. Their concern is not just ethical but quite realistic. In the face of rising nuclear buildups and doctrinal precepts pointing to potential nuclear use among the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council, the signatories, especially countries like Kazakhstan that are adjacent to those nuclear-armed states, face a growing threat to their security. 

To the extent that nuclear powers can be persuaded to adhere to this treaty — so far, an arduous quest by the signatories — it enhances their security and reduces the chance of their being vulnerable to and victims of nuclear threats.  ………………………………………. more https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4356196-as-nuclear-powers-restart-the-arms-race-unarmed-nations-call-for-reason/

December 14, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

U.S. Congress passes bill barring imports of Russian uranium for nuclear power, (but this ban can be waived as needed.)

The Hill, BY RACHEL FRAZIN – 12/11/23

The House on Monday passed legislation that would bar imports of Russian uranium for nuclear power plants. 

The measure was passed by a voice vote with bipartisan support. Ahead of the voice vote, Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and Democrat Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.) spoke in favor of the bill. 

The legislation would make it illegal to import low-enriched uranium, which is used in nuclear fuel, 90 days after the bill becomes law. 

It allows for the prohibition to be waived, however, if there aren’t other viable sources of uranium to sustain nuclear reactors.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the majority of uranium that powers U.S. plants is imported, and about 12 percent of those imports came from Russia in 2022. …………………. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4354533-house-passes-bill-barring-imports-russian-uranium-nucler-power/

December 13, 2023 Posted by | politics, USA | 1 Comment

Ukraine’s 200 Fighter Jet Demand Could Lead To Nuclear Catastrophe.

The current state of Ukraine is in total ruins. Beautiful cities have been reduced to rubble. What an exorbitant cost to pay for NATO membership!

Russia Could End The War By Nuking Kyiv

Eurasian Times, OPED By Gp Cpt TP Srivastava 12 Dec 23

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is in its 22nd month. On February 24, 2024, the unwanted and highly undesirable Russia-Ukraine war will be two years old. Putin’s declaration of suspending START signed in 2010 (due to expire in 2026) by Obama and Medvedev heightens the risk of a nuclear war.

The most pertinent question is, ‘Whose war is it anyway’? Few military strategists believe that there is no specific answer. Few believe that it is due to Russia’s hostile attitude towards Ukraine.

That is surprising because the simple answer to this supposedly complex question is the US’s desire to expand NATO eastward. Finally, the USA and its NATO cronies found a puppet in the form of Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky, who was/is willing to dance to their tune even though, in the process, he has single-handedly destroyed a beautiful nation.

He has brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. The President of Belarus has been categorical in his assertion that the USA and other NATO members forced this war on Russia (during an interview with BBC).

The near destruction of a nation’s infrastructure and death of hundreds of thousands of soldiers/civilians (exact figures will/may be known after the war ends, if and when it does) has achieved nothing. What was the crying need for the USA to push for Ukraine to join NATO?

Until this insane desire of the USA altered the Russia-Ukraine relations, things between the two nations were stable. Instead of treading into the past regarding the expansion of NATO eastwards, the most recent event of German reunification merits a mention.

After Russia was convinced of the need for German reunification, the then Secretary of State of the USA, James Baker, stated, “NATO would not expand an inch eastward” or words to that effect.

Non-Expansion Of NATO Eastward

Russia reminded NATO and the USA about the verbal commitment of the USA regarding ‘no eastward expansion of NATO’ on quite a few occasions. The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 merely caused a minor whimper from G-7 nations when they decided to boycott the summit to be held at Sochi.

On February 14, 2022, the Russian Foreign Minister clearly and unambiguously stated that the continued efforts of the USA to bring in Ukraine as a NATO member will have serious repercussions. Russia demanded a legal ban on Ukraine joining NATO based on a commitment made by the USA as one of the conditions for German reunification. But Russian demand was rejected, both by NATO and Ukraine.

Russia was forced into a corner, which led to Russia openly justifying the breach of the Budapest Memorandum. As if Ukraine’s impending entry into the NATO fold was not enough for Russia to retaliate, Sweden and Finland joined the queue.

It would be pertinent to mention that Finland and Sweden decided to remain neutral during the height of the Cold War. But for the objection raised by Turkey and Hungary, Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership was delayed as the 32nd and 33rd members of NATO. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had called NATO a ‘BRAIN DEAD’ alliance.

Despite repeated statements by Russia, Ukraine declined to join Russia for talks; the last offer made was on February 19, 2022. Russia attacked (read Special Military Operations Commenced) on February 24, 2022. The USA and NATO countries did not expect Russia to launch the offensive. But Putin is famous for doing the unexpected, which is what he did.

Russia Vs. Ukraine Or Russia Vs. NATO

Except for the first six weeks of the war, when it could be called the Russia-Ukraine war, the nature of the war started altering rapidly to the Russia–NATO war. Military strategists of the world opine that Ukraine has fought Russia on equal terms. Nothing could be further from the truth. Russia has given a befitting reply to NATO and the USA combined.

The current state of Ukraine is in total ruins. Beautiful cities have been reduced to rubble. What an exorbitant cost to pay for NATO membership! Whatever chances there were for Ukraine to join NATO have evaporated in thin air. In the prevailing scenario, Russia will adopt all possible measures, including nuclear options, to ensure that Ukraine is not admitted to NATO.

USA & NATO Want War To End?

Instead of addressing the issue of whether Ukraine and Russia want to end the war, the above question is more pertinent. US hypocrisy is evident. The USA has already given more than US$30 billion in military aid and nearly US$40 billion in humanitarian assistance.

However, the US Secretary of State announced a grant of an ‘astronomical’ sum of US$100 million to help Turkey recover from one of the most disastrous natural calamities the world has witnessed.

POTUS decided to travel to Kyiv on February 19, 2023, albeit by a ten-hour-long train journey. It is only the third time that POTUS has visited a war zone but with a difference. Obama visited Afghanistan, and Bush went to Iraq. But their trips were done secretly. Biden visited Kyiv after giving prior information to Russia lest an errant SSM find its way close to where Biden was in Kyiv.

NATO members faithfully follow their ‘political master,’ the USA. UK, Germany, France, and Poland have offered Ukraine military aid. Are their actions meant to end the unwanted war?

This is even though Germany’s bill for energy for the current fiscal would/might exceed by nearly US$160 billion. Germany thrived and prospered due to Russian gas. The ‘international policeman’ probably sabotaged NORD STREAM 1 and 2, who did not hesitate to carry out the most disastrous ecological catastrophe in recent times.

A mature and responsible head of state should have announced from the war zone that the war must end to avoid further disaster and eliminate any chances of a nuclear war. Instead, Biden said that the USA stands with Ukraine………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Imminent Nuclear War?

The United Nations Secretary-General had this to say in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war: “Geopolitical crises with grave nuclear undertones are spreading fast from the Middle East to the Korean Peninsula to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

He made this statement in Hiroshima. Putin’s doctrine enunciates that Russia reserves the right to exercise nuclear options even against a formidable conventional weapon attack, which might threaten Russia’s territorial integrity.

Failure Of Kyiv Offensive

Pseudo-military strategists will take longer to declare that the Kyiv offensive has failed. Zelensky’s militarily insane option is not only disastrous for Ukraine but also for European nations adjoining Russia. Finland must regret its decision to join NATO and convert an otherwise dormant and safe border with Russia into a highly active one.

In all likelihood, whether Russia is close to victory or Ukraine is deliberating on a ‘smoking’ peace pipe will be known shortly. Ukraine cannot sustain the war effort without active support from USA and EU nations, which appears to be dwindling.

Future

Russia has been able to achieve its military aim of destroying Ukrainian infrastructure, which will take decades to rebuild at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. Has Ukraine gained anything except the destruction of its cities and making lakhs homeless? Exact casualty figures may never be known. That NATO is ‘tired’ of this war is evident from recent statements of the German Chancellor and French President.

‘White Man’s War’ will end, if it ends, without any firm conclusion. Impending NATO membership in Ukraine might remain an unfulfilled dream.

With the US presidential elections due in November 2024 and Taiwan in January 2024, the US administration may not have enough time for ‘TV Actor’ Zelensky. The unforeseen war between HAMAS and Israel has resulted in the shift of US focus, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict has become just another skirmish.

Republicans have vehemently opposed Biden’s proposal for aid to Ukraine. If they successfully block further assistance to Ukraine, Zelensky might realize the reality and be ‘forced’ to seek peace with Russia. NATO membership is no guarantee for security. In addition, differences are emerging between Zelensky and his top military advisors.

Therefore, sustaining the war through the winters might be a difficult option. Putin’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia and UAE also sent a strong signal to the West, highlighting that Russia is not as isolated as was predicted by the West.

The announcement of Vladimir Putin seeking yet another tenure as President sends a clear, crisp, and candid message to the West: stop the eastward expansion of NATO, or else — Zelensky’s military hierarchy may not support his continued effort to make Ukraine a NATO member and in the process destroy Ukraine. Conditions are ideal for Zelensky’s removal and possible military takeover in Ukraine.

December 13, 2023 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

COP28 fossil fuel pledges will not limit global warming to 1.5C, says IEA

 COP28 fossil fuel pledges will not limit global warming to 1.5C, says IEA.
Summit president Sultan al-Jaber’s plans to reduce climate goals’ gap
‘not good enough’, warns energy agency’s chief.

Emissions-cutting
pledges made by about 130 countries and 50 fossil fuel companies at the
start of the UN climate summit will still leave the world far off track in
limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, according to
an analysis from the International Energy Agency.

Together, the countries
account for more than half of the world’s gross domestic product, the
agency said. The IEA has calculated that full implementation of a set of
measures that are part of a new global decarbonisation alliance would only
reduce the energy-related emissions gap between the current trajectory and
a 1.5°C scenario by about a third by 2030.

 FT 10th Dec 2023

https://www.ft.com/content/08e08334-f637-4a4f-8374-3f6c24ba7dd2

December 13, 2023 Posted by | climate change | 1 Comment

 Sellafield staff ‘used home computers to beat security failings’.


Cybersecurity fears grow amid claims Britain’s most hazardous nuclear
site was targeted by hackers linked to Russia and China. Staff at
Sellafield were asked to work on sensitive projects using their home
computers, a former employee has said, amid questions about cybersecurity
at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site after claims it was hacked by
groups linked to Russia and China.

Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary,
is due to meet representatives from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA) after an investigation alleged that state actors had embedded sleeper
malware into the computer network at Sellafield, the largest nuclear waste
and decommissioning site in Europe.

Sources told The Guardian that IT
breaches had been detected as far back as 2015, and accused the
organisation’s leaders of having “consistently covered up” the scale
of the intrusions. Highly sensitive material potentially relating to the
movement of radioactive waste and monitoring of leaks had likely been
compromised, and it is still unknown as to whether the malware has been
successfully eradicated, the newspaper reported.

A former staff member, who
worked as a senior manager at the site between 2008 and 2021, told The
Times that staff had a “complacent” and “lax” attitude towards
cybersecurity, with employees often leaving their login details attached to
their computers and frequently having to be reminded to lock their screens.

 Times 9th Dec 2023

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sellafield-staff-used-home-computers-to-beat-security-failings-ccxwqwv3x

December 13, 2023 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

US casts sole vote in UN to continue the annihilation of Gaza

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL ,10 Dec 23

December 8th now makes 2 consecutive calendar Days of Infamy for America. But this one, coming 92 years and a day after the first, is not from an attack on America. It comes from America’s descent into madness, enabling and supporting Israel’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of Gaza after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel.

The UAE sponsored the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Within 24 hours they garnered nearly a hundred co-sponsors from the UN’s 193 members.  UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez invoked rarely used Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring the resolution to the Security Council for immediate consideration over “threats to international peace and “humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

But the US blocked the resolution with a dastardly veto. Thirteen other members voted for it, including some of America’s staunch allies. Even our most lockstep ally Britain abstained. The US now stands alone in supporting Israel’s campaign making Gaza uninhabitable.

Ministers from Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey came to D.C. to plead with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to support the ceasefire. But Blinken put them off till after the after the UN vote.

When questioned about the devastation in Gaza, Biden, Blinken just nod and mutter something about imploring Israel to try harder not to annihilate all the Palestinians there. Meanwhile Netanyahu tells his war cabinet “We need 3 things from the US: munitions, munitions, and munitions.” And he gets them PDQ

How bad is that annihilation? Roughly 70% of the 70,000 deaths and injuries are women and children. UN chief Gutierrez cited Article 99 for the first time since 1971 in calling the emergency session to address the “humanitarian nightmare Gaza is facing.” He cited endless bombings that have hit 339 schools, 26 hospitals, 56 health care facilities, 88 mosques and three churches.

Besides Gaza being destroyed, President Biden is ensuring that America’s standing in the world is being destroyed as a beacon of peace and freedom.

Yes, mark December 8th on the calendar as another American Day of Infamy.

Besides Gaza being destroyed, President Biden is ensuring that America’s standing in the world is being destroyed as a beacon of peace and freedom.

Yes, mark December 8th on the calendar as another American Day of Infamy.

December 13, 2023 Posted by | Israel, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Civilian deaths in Gaza highest of all world conflicts in 20th Century, including World Wars, Israeli study reveals

 https://www.sott.net/article/486726-Civilian-deaths-in-Gaza-highest-of-all-world-conflicts-in-20th-Century-including-World-Wars-Israeli-study-reveals 10 Dec 23

The Guardian newspaper saysThe aerial bombing campaign by Israel in Gaza is the most indiscriminate in terms of civilian casualties in recent years, a study published by an Israeli newspaper has found.

The analysis by Haaretz came as Israeli forces fought to consolidate their control of northern Gaza on Saturday, bombing the Shejaiya district of Gaza City, while also conducting airstrikes on Rafah, a town on the southern border with Egypt where the Israeli army has told people in Gaza to take shelter.

The full death toll from the past 24 hours was unclear but the main hospital in central Gaza, at Deir al-Balah, reported it received 71 bodies, and 62 bodies were taken to Nasser hospital in the main southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Haaretz analysis found that in three earlier campaigns in Gaza, in the period from 2012-22, the ratio of civilian deaths to the total of those killed in airstrikes hovered around 40%. That ratio declined to 33% in a bombing campaign earlier this year, called Operation Shield and Arrow.

In the first three weeks of the current operation, Swords of Iron, the civilian proportion of total deaths rose to 61%, in what Haaretz described as “unprecedented killing”. The ratio is significantly higher than the civilian toll in all the conflicts around the world during the 20th century, in which civilians accounted for about half the dead.

Comment: Andalou Agency, quoting the Palestinian Health Ministry – whose figures have repeatedly been shown by independent agencies to be accurate – report the following:

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has mounted to 17,177 since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry in the enclave said Thursday.

“Around 70% of the victims are children and women,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told a press conference.

He said 46,000 other people were injured in the Israeli onslaught on the blockaded Palestinian territory.

“At least 290 medics were killed, 102 ambulances destroyed and 160 health care centers targeted in the Israeli attacks, while 20 hospitals and 46 primary care centers were forced out of service,” al-Qudra said.


“The broad conclusion is that extensive killing of civilians not only contributes nothing to Israel’s security, but that it also contains the foundations for further undermining it,” Haaretz concluded. “The Gazans who will emerge from the ruins of their homes and the loss of their families will seek revenge that no security arrangements will be able to withstand.”

Comment: This reaction by even the Israeli press perhaps reveals why Israel, and those facilitating the genocide in the US, and UK, are escalating the slaughter and destruction, because it’s only a matter of time before unrest at home, and a response from those abroad, will hamper their nefarious agenda.

It also serves to distract from the rapidly deteriorating situation in their own economies and societies, whilst at the same time setting the Middle East alight which, they seem to think, will provide justification for their sinister actions.

The figures will make uneasy reading for the Biden administration, which is facing global criticism and isolation for vetoing a UN security council vote for a ceasefire on Friday.

Since the start of the war, triggered by the deadly 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, the US has been seeking to persuade Israeli forces to be more discriminate in choosing targets, and has repeatedly claimed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are “receptive” to American advice, despite the consistently high civilian death toll.

Comment: The Guardian has been exposed as being compromised by the UK’s intelligence agencies, and that’s perhaps one reason why it fails to mention that strong evidence, along with logic, has since revealed that not only was the attack known about well in advance; the IDF was forced to stand down; that Israel was responsible for killing a significant number of its own people; as well as destroying evidence.

The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, repeated that claim while briefing reporters on Air Force One on Friday, but added: “We certainly all recognise more can be done to try to reduce civilian casualties, and we’re going to keep working with our Israeli counterparts to that end.”

Kirby was speaking as the Biden administration faced allegations of abetting war crimes for vetoing the security council resolution.

Human Rights Watch said the US risked “complicity in war crimes” by continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic support. Paul O’Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, said: “With this veto, the US government is shamefully turning its back on immense civilian suffering, a staggering death toll, and unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”

Comment: In a vote for a ceasefire at the UN today, the US voted against, the UK abstained, the rest of the UN voted for:

The Saudi foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, met the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Washington on Friday night to maintain pressure for “urgent steps” to establish a ceasefire so humanitarian aid could be delivered.

In the face of the global criticism, US officials stressed the role the US has played in pushing for humanitarian deliveries to Gaza through the Rafah crossing point. Kirby said a US military transport plane had landed in Egypt on Friday carrying nearly 26,000kg (57,000lbs) of food, water, and medicine bound for Gaza.

Comment: Meanwhile the US & UK also provides the weapons, the funds, and the veto powers, without which there would be no need for them to send humanitarian aid.

“We’re certainly mindful of the suffering of the people of Gaza, and we’re doing everything we can to not just get stuff in there but to lead an actual international effort to get stuff in there,” he said.

Kirby said fewer than 100 trucks had crossed through the Rafah gate on Friday, about half the daily volume that entered Gaza during a week-long humanitarian ceasefire at the end of last month.

“Obviously that’s not at the level that we want it to be at,” he said, noting that Israel was preparing to open an additional inspection facility at Kerem Shalom on the Israel-Gaza border, which is expected to ease the most significant bottleneck, inspection capacity.

However, the UN and other aid agencies say that even when trucks enter the Gaza Strip at Rafah, the ground offensive in southern Gaza and the general lack of security is preventing the supplies from being distributed, at a time of a high and rising threat of starvation and disease.

Comment: The UN has also sounded the alarm that 130 of their own staff have been murdered; that their staff are taking their children with them to work in the hopes that, if they can’t be safe at home, they can at least ‘die together’.

They’re also warning that, with the conditions in Gaza being so dire – with 700 people sharing 1 toilet and 25 babies a day being born with little medical supplies – it won’t be long before disease and viral outbreaks ravage those that managed to escape the death from above:

The IDF said it had failed in a hostage rescue attempt on Friday. The chief spokesperson, R Adm Daniel Hagari, said: “The forces raided a Hamas site and eliminated terrorists who had taken part in the abduction and captivity of hostages.”

He said two Israeli soldiers had been seriously wounded in the mission, and no hostages had been rescued. He did not confirm Hamas claims that one hostage, 25-year-old Sahar Baruch, had been killed in the rescue attempt, but his home kibbutz at Be’eri announced Baruch had died.


Comment: See also: Israel’s ground war conundrum

December 13, 2023 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Bribery to indigenous people – by Canada’s nuclear lobby

Canada’s Nuclear Regulator Funds Indigenous Relations Boost

Mirage News, 12 Dec 23

Today, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced that it is awarding nearly $4 million to 19 Indigenous Nations and communities over 2 years through the new Indigenous and Stakeholder Capacity Fund (ISCF) – Indigenous Capacity Support stream. The ISCF serves to increase recipients’ capacity to better engage and participate in the CNSC’s full lifecycle of regulatory processes, programs and initiatives.

Launched in May 2023, the ISCF provides support for staffing and internal resources, Indigenous knowledge and land use studies, IT equipment acquisition, education and training opportunities, technical assistance, and other much-needed resources……………………………….. https://www.miragenews.com/canadas-nuclear-regulator-funds-indigenous-1141295/

December 13, 2023 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

Sellafield nuclear site exposés are long overdue

The fact that it is in Cumbria, far away from London, makes it easily ignorable, writes Isaac Cooper. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/11/sellafield-nuclear-site-exposes-are-long-overdue

As a journalist based in Cumbria, I appreciate your investigations into Sellafield (Sellafield nuclear site workers claim ‘toxic culture’ of bullying, sexual harassment and drugs could put safety at risk, 6 December). The exposés are long overdue. The reaction of many, however, has been distinctly muted and is directly linked to how Sellafield has been getting away with it for many years: geography. The fact that Sellafield lies on the west coast of Cumbria makes it easily forgettable to large swathes of the media and the public.

Were Sellafield based within a hundred miles of London there would have been a national uproar, but its “out of sight, out of mind” location means it can be ignored easily. It is indicative of the public’s attitude towards Cumbria being just the lakes and nothing more.
Isaac Cooper
Cumberland News, Carlisle

December 13, 2023 Posted by | media, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Fukushima nuclear plant worker exposed to radiation

TOKYO. 12 Dec 23  https://japantoday.com/category/national/fukushima-nuclear-plant-worker-exposed-to-radiation

A plant worker at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex may have ingested radioactive materials after his face was exposed to the substances, the plant operator said Monday.

The operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc said the man in his 20s was wearing a protective full-face mask and suit while working in a room near the plant’s No. 2 reactor building, decontaminating fences and other equipment ahead of the removal of 615 spent nuclear fuel rods from the building.

But radioactive material was found on his face during a routine radiation test as he was leaving the site and he was decontaminated immediately.

The incident follows one in October when two men were exposed to radioactive liquid while cleaning a water filtration facility at the same plant.

December 13, 2023 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, health | Leave a comment

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