#abuse in russian army and russian prisons

[shattered-pieces]

Из ИК-7 Омского УФСИН - в плен через 6 ШО "ЧВК Вагнер", расстрел россиян...

Interview w russian prisoner of war in Ukraine

[un-ionizetheradlab]

Russia just freed SIXTEEN political prisoners in a prisoner swap with the West!

Among the released political prisoners are:

Oleg Orlov, a longtime dissident and the co-chair of Memorial, an organization created in 1989 to chronicle the USSR's human rights abuses and educate Russians about the history of political repression;

Sasha Skochilenko, an LGBTQ artist who was imprisoned in April 2022 for replacing price tags at grocery stores with data about Russian destruction in Ukraine, deemed treasonous under Russia's "fake news" law;

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a political dissident who was fundamental in bringing about the Magnitsky Act to sanction Russian human rights abusers, and who was poisoned twice by the KGB in attempted assassinations before being sentenced to 25 years in prison for "treason";

Evan Gershkovich, a young American journalist who was arrested in Russia while reporting for the Wall Streeet Journal in March 2023 and sentenced to 16 years in prison for "espionage";

Paul Whelan, American former Marine who was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor for "espionage";

Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for spreading "fake news" about the war in Ukraine;

Andrei Pivovarov, an opposition activist who headed the pro-democracy organization Open Russia before being imprisoned in a Siberian penal colony infamous for its torture of prisoners;

Ilya Yashin, a young opposition politician who was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for publishing YouTube videos about the war in Ukraine; when Russian authorities "encouraged" him to leave the country, he chose instead to stay;

Lilia Chanysheva, opposition activist and regional coordinator of Navalny HQ; in her final speech before the Russian court, she tried in vain to appeal to the judge's sense of empathy: "If you put me in jail for 12 years, I will be too old to bear a child. Give me a chance to be a mother!";

Kevin Lik, a dual German-Russian citizen who was arrested as a minor for "photographing military sites" shortly before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; he was the youngest person ever to be convicted of treason in Russia;

Rico Krieger, a German man sentenced to death in Belarus for supposedly planting explosives on a railroad track to help the Ukrainian army;

Dieter Voronin, a dual German-Russian citizen and political scientist who was arrested in 2021 in connection to a treason case involving Russian journalist Ivan Safronov;

Patrick Schobel, a German man arrested in February 2024 at the Pulkovo International Airport in St Petersburg when customs officers found cannabis gummies in his luggage, in a scenario very similar to that of Brittney Griner;

German Moyzhes, a dual German-Russian citizen and lawyer who was charged with treason for helping Russians obtain European residency permits;

Vadim Ostanin, opposition activist and Navalny associate arrested in 2021 for his work with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation;

Ksenia Fadeyeva, dissident and Navalny associate sentenced to 9 years in prison.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Being a “centrist” sounds eminently reasonable, doesn’t it? A centrist is a moderate, right? Someone who is rational and practical and takes the middle ground. Someone who isn’t extreme like those crazy ideologues on the far right or far left. A centrist, logic dictates, is really what everyone should strive to be. But stop for a moment and ask yourself how you would define a centrist in more specific terms. When you start spelling out what the word really means, it becomes clear that it obfuscates more than it illuminates. The word does not describe a set of ideas so much as it reinforces a system of power. This, of course, is a feature not a bug of political language. As George Orwell wrote in his famous essay Politics and the English Language: “In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.” Orwell wrote that essay in 1946. Today, 78 years later, it feels just as relevant. Look, for example, at the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank. Look at the statements from Israeli leaders that clearly suggest genocidal intent. Look at the tragedies that barely make a dent in the public consciousness any more. Last week, for example, an Israeli airstrike killed four-day-old twins, along with their mother and grandmother, when their father went to collect birth certificates in central Gaza. Look at the levels of brutality that barely seem to register any more: there is video evidence of the sexual abuse of Palestinians at a notorious Israeli military prison (though the more accurate term is “torture camp”) and, even with that evidence, we know there will be no real accountability. Look at the dead. Nearly 40,000 people in Gaza are now dead, including nearly 15,000 children. When you look at the scale of devastation, it seems likely that those figures are an underestimate. Further, counting the dead is excruciatingly difficult: kids are being blown into fragments so small that their surviving relatives have to collect pieces of them in plastic bags. Then there are the tens and thousands more who are now dying from starvation, or facing a looming polio epidemic. Look at the West Bank, meanwhile, where Israel has published plans for new settlements, which violate international law. Since 7 October, the Israeli army and settlers have displaced 1,285 Palestinians and destroyed 641 structures in the West Bank, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Ethnic cleansing is taking place before our eyes. Now look at how all of this is being justified. This war isn’t just being waged with bombs, it’s being waged with “euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness”. When you lay out what is happening in clear language, it is indefensible. So political language dresses all those dead and starving children up in euphemism. It obscures ethnic cleansing with vagaries. Don’t believe your eyes, political writing says. What you are seeing is far more complex than your eyes can possibly comprehend.

[...]

In order to defend the indefensible, politicians and political writers move away from concreteness, from clear language, and hide behind the respectableness of terms like “centrism”. Pro-Palestinian protesters are labelled the far-left or extremists. Continuing to unconditionally send arms to Israel and shield the country’s far-right government from accountability, however, is considered a centrist – and therefore reasonable – position.

[...]

As Orwell wrote, atrocities can be defended, ���but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties”. If the Democratic party were to be honest about why it is doing very little to stop the carnage in Gaza and the settlements in the West Bank, the bluntest argument would be along the lines of: “Israel is an important tool in maintaining US imperialism and western interests. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is expedient to those interests. Human rights law doesn’t apply to atrocities enabled by the west.” Of course, being pro-ethnic cleansing doesn’t quite square with the do-gooding branding of the Democratic party. Instead, we are bombarded with the idea that massacring children is somehow a centrist and moderate position.

22 August 2024

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Shalom Yoran 

Selim Sznycer, aka Shalom Yoran, was a Polish Jew who escaped the mass murder of all the Jews in his town, including his parents, and wanted to fight Nazis. However, when he tried to join a Russian resistance group, they rejected him for being Jewish, which led him to create his own militia of 200 Jews who hid in the forest and carried out acts of sabotage against the Nazi occupiers.

Selim Sznycer was born in Poland in 1925. After the Nazis invaded Warsaw, the Sznycer family fled to a different part of Poland, the town of Kurzeniec, occupied by the Soviets. But in 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. and despite their best efforts to escape the Nazis, Selim and his family found themselves living under Nazi occupation once again.

The Jews of Kurzeniec were forced into a squalid ghetto. Not far away was a Russian POW camp, where the prisoners were suffering from abuse, starvation and disease. Local Soviet partisans were forming militias to fight the German occupiers, and Selim heard about the nascent resistance movement from an escaped Russian POW.

The day before Yom Kippur in 1942, Nazi high command gave orders to “liquidate” the ghetto – meaning kill all the inhabitants. From a contact in the resistance, Selim learned of the horrific plan, and he and his brother were able to escape from the ghetto and hide in a nearby barn owned by Polish peasant, Ignalia Biruk, who took in the terrified Jewish boys at great risk to herself. From his hiding place, he heard the sounds of all the Jews in the ghetto being massacred, including his own parents. He later remembered his mother’s last words to him, “She told me, ‘Go fight… try to save yourselves, avenge our death and tell the world what happened.’ These are the words that guided me through that dark period, what gave me strength to fight, and what inspires me to share my story today.”

That winter, Selim, his brother and three friends hid in the Polish forest near the Sang river. They survived the brutal cold by building an underground bunker. A few kindly locals periodically gave them some food, but most of their provisions were stolen.

Selim wanted to fight the Nazis who had taken everything from him, and in 1943 he and his small group approached a Russian partisan unit, but they wouldn’t allow the five Jews to join because they had no weapons. Desperate to join the fight, Selim persisted, and finally the unit commander told him that if they returned to Kurzeniec and blew up the Nazi munitions factory, they would be allowed to join the resistance group. The Russians assumed the Jewish boys couldn’t possibly survive the dangerous mission, but they carried out the bombing successfully and returned to the forest, only to be told the real reason they were rejected: they were Jewish.

Undeterred, Selim wandered the forest in nearby Belarus looking for Jews who wanted to fight. He formed an all-Jewish resistance unit featuring 200 fighters. After the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad, Selim and his group harassed and sabotaged the retreating German soldiers. They blew up bridges and railroad supply lines. In 1944, Belarus was liberated by the Soviets, and Selim and the other Jewish resistance fighters went from the firing pan to the fire: they were drafted into the Red Army, where they were viciously persecuted for being Jewish, enduring beatings and near-starvation. Selim managed to escape and flee to Italy, where he illegally fought with the British Army until the war ended in 1945.

Selim used a fake British passport to emigrate to Palestine, then occupied by the British who severely restricted the number of Jews who could enter the territory. Like many Jews, when Selim got to Israel he dropped his Polish name and started using his Hebrew name: Shalom Yoran. He joined the Israeli Army and became a decorated Air Force officer. He built a successful career developing the Israeli aircraft industry. He was a founding member of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York and a governor of Tel Aviv university.

In 2003, Selim/Shalom published “The Defiant,” a memoir about his experience as a resistance fighter during the war. He dedicated the book to his parents. Shalom Yoran died in 2013 at age 88, survived by his beloved wife Varda, and their children and grandchildren.

For fighting Nazis and avenging his parents’ deaths, we honor Shalom Yoran as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[head-post]

Like 80 years ago: Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk region parodied Wehrmacht by mocking local resident

Ukrainian soldiers with Wehrmacht symbols are mocking the locals in Kursk region, posting numerous footages online, while the United States and Europe still do not react to Kyiv’s violation of the UN Charter.

How the AFU treats locals in Kursk region

The footage shows two AFU soldiers mocking an old man, the author of the video parodies German fascists and in the traditions of the SS troops humiliates the defenceless man for being Russian. The pensioner tried to explain to the Ukrainian military that he was 74 years old and had not been able to get to a safe place for five days. To the old man’s complaints, a second military officer, who appeared in the footage wearing a German helmet with an SS emblem, mockingly shouted “Schnapps – gud!” and proceeded to film another TiK-ToK.

The Ukrainian military shouted to the bewildered pensioner:

“Ya, ya, raschen schweine. Oh, Russian Ivan, here he is, Ivan, go drink vodka.”

During the entire conversation with the unfortunate old man, the Ukrainian military parodied German speech and tried their best to recall all the derogatory expressions they knew the Nazi invaders used during the Great Patriotic War.

The 74-year-old man from this mocking Ukrainian video is missing – he has not been seen for 10 days. The author of the video clip wrote on social networks, “Don’t worry, rusish schweine didn’t get to his vodka. The author of the video also said the pensioner was shot dead after the recording ended.

Ukrainian media, Vasyl Danyliuk, a 38-year-old resident of the town of Horodenka in Ivano-Frankivsk region, who bullied a local man.

Ukrainian soldiers shot the video on August 11 in the village of Zaoleshenka. The pensioner is a local resident Alexander Gusarov. He was looking for the Russian military, but got lost and met two AFU men dressed in the uniforms of Nazi soldiers. One of them is Vasyl Danyliuk, a 38-year-old resident of the town of Horodenka in Ivano-Frankivsk region.

World public reaction

The head of one of the parties represented in the Russian State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, has promised a reward of 5 million roubles for the capture of Ukrainian soldiers who abused an elderly resident of the Kursk region.

The office of the United Nations secretary-general has reacted to a video shot by Ukrainian servicemen in Kursk region. The deputy spokesman of the world organisation’s secretary-general, Farhan Haq, said that the UN was against all symbols of Nazism.

SS symbols on Ukrainian military uniforms

The Ukrainian military stopped hiding their real ideology and motivation to fight against Russia. Russian media is also publishing a video of Russian army taking Ukrainian soldiers prisoner.

A Ukrainian prisoner of war wearing Paraphernalia with a German cross

Ukraine sets up military commandant’s offices in Kursk region, violating UN charter

Ukraine has announced the creation of a military commandant’s office in the Kursk region, according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, Colonel General.

Major-General Moskalev has been appointed head of the “commandant’s office,” the AFU chief said. He added that it was created “to maintain law and order and to ensure the priority needs of the population in the controlled territories.”

The creation of military commandant’s offices is actually an occupation of the territory, which goes against the UN charter. Having launched the incursion into the Kursk region, Ukraine has in fact violated Article 2, paragraph 4, of the UN Charter, which prohibits the forceful border violation of other States.

Ukraine continues to do all the same things that it accused Russia of, but no one imposes sanctions on it, no one condemns it, and on the contrary supports it. Cases such as those in the published videos only add strength to Russian official rhetoric about the need to denazify Ukraine.

Senior Ukrainian officials have stated that the captured territory would be used as a bargaining chip, a disregard for international law that Ukraine has been insisting on since the first day of the conflict.

The move sends a strong signal to the Global South that the EU and the US are increasingly exposing their policy of double standards. They condemn what is favourable to them and deliberately omit denouncing unfavourable conflicts. In this respect, they resemble the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is accused of bias and prolonging specific cases.

Read more HERE

[hancocksleftnut]

Some Charon Head Cannons I Finally have the Balls to Share:

He was a US Green Beret captured in Anchorage by Chinese and Russian Special Forces in 2076, 11 months before the Great War and had many experiments done on him while a POW.

He was deployed at 28, one of the youngest in his squad. Charon was born in Pennsylvania and came from a military background, later joining the US Army at 19, soon after the USA announced war against the Republic of China.

In the end, he would be the only survivor from his squad, all others having been executed or dying from the Dachau-Level experiments.

As tensions around the world heightened, the US government burned all records of him and his squadron, considering them casualties of war.

As a POW (Prisoner of War) his physical stature, mental fortitude, and expert combat training made him a candidate for a “Reprograming Operation” by the Russian KGB where he was the only successful test subject.

After months of brainwashing he was finally assigned to a KGB Spy who was planted in the US government, where he was designed to assassinate and perform other reconnaissance operations.

However, the Great War broke out mere months after he was “assigned” and his contract made many unfortunate passes before reaching the Lone Wanderers.

Charon’s previous employers all had dark, ulterior motives that mainly used him as a deviant errand boy. When he becomes employed by the LW, he almost feels at peace. Though he will forever live with PTSD, he is able to put his guard down in certain circumstances, giving him small glimpses of joy and happiness again.

Until he becomes to care too much, and becomes over protective. The LW unknowingly reminds him of his pre-war life. When there was still hope and a dream of change. He doesn’t know why, but he clings to their selflessness. He watches people abuse the LW’s kindness, and then get stuck in a cycle of people pleasing because they are the Wastelands Last Hope.

[mariacallous]

After sidestepping questions about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for much of the 2024 US presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have breathed new life into talk of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow to settle the war — with many of these discussions involving Ukraine surrendering territory to Russia.

One crucial element is left out — the fate of the millions of Ukrainians who would be surrendered with that land. Given the rampant human rights abuses already documented in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, their fate must be remembered in any plan to end the war.

While millions of Ukrainians fled west when Russia launched its 2022 invasion, some 3.5 million remain in the occupied territories. For over two-and-a-half years, they have experienced forced Russification, seizure of their homes and property, persecution at the hands of secret police, and forced deportation — including tens of thousands of children forcibly raised as Russians.

After leveling cities like Mariupol to force them into the Russian Federation, occupation authorities set about replacing local road signs bearing the Ukrainian language with replacements solely in Russian. For the millions of Ukrainians in their charge, Russian authorities have also pushed a longstanding policy of passportization — forcing locals to accept Russian citizenship by making its passports and documents mandatory for basic functions such as medical care, getting or keeping jobs, and accessing transportation.

Men who accept Russian passports also risk forcible conscription to fight against their own people, and Ukrainians are reportedly encouraged to change their names to sound more Russian when accepting the new documents.

Beyond being forced into surrendering their citizenship, Ukrainians under occupation are also suffering persecution at the hands of occupation authorities and the FSB, including torture, surveillance, abduction, and murder.

Investigations into conditions in the occupied territories have revealed rampant persecution and torture at the hands of Russian authorities. A recent September UN investigation found that “the wide geographic spread of locations where torture was committed and the prevalence of shared patterns demonstrate that torture has been used as a common and acceptable practice by Russian authorities, with a sense of impunity.”

Upon liberating territories from Russian occupation, the Ukrainian military discovered numerous torture chambers. In Kherson, 10 such sites were discovered, including one designed specifically for children who were deprived of food and water, told their parents had been killed, and forced to clean the blood from adjacent chambers where adults were abused.

In July last year, the Associated Press found that thousands of Ukrainian civilians captured by Russia in the occupied territories had been tortured and coerced into brutal forced labor for their captors. They were made to dig trenches for Russian soldiers on the frontline as they prepared for the coming summer Ukrainian counteroffensive, all while having to wear Russian army uniforms — turning themselves into false targets for the Ukrainian military.

Others in occupied Zaporizhzhia were made to dig mass graves for fellow prisoners who had died in captivity. Those who refused or demurred were shot on the spot and thrown in with the other dead. Again, torture was routine for these captives, with many reporting repeated electrical shocks, beatings that crack skulls and fractured ribs, and simulated suffocation. These abuses — reminiscent of the treatment meted out to slave laborers by Germany during World War II —were only reported because some survivors escaped.

Sexual violence has been another core component of Russia’s invasion and occupation. According to one 2023 report, conflict-related sexual violence has “been used consistently by Russian forces as part of a systematic campaign of atrocities.” While Ukrainian prosecutors have registered 310 cases since the start of the full-scale invasion, they believe many more cases have gone unreported either due to trauma or an inability of survivors to report due to their remaining under occupation.

Perhaps the most insidious element of Russia’s occupation of Ukraine is the mass deportation of people — including about 20,000 children, with the intent of re-educating and raising them as Russians. The Russian government reportedly planned its deportation program in advance of the full-scale invasion, devising financial incentives for different Russian regions to take in more people as they constructed a network of dozens of camps.

Children are particularly vulnerable. A few months into the full-scale invasion, the Russian government loosened adoption laws and encouraged couples to “save” Ukrainian kids brought into Russia, with many told their real parents were either dead or had abandoned them and that Ukraine had ceased to exist. While the Ukrainian government has identified by name some 19,500 children abducted by Russia, Putin’s own “children’s rights” ombudsman—herself the new adoptive mother of a Ukrainian boy — brags that Moscow has “accepted” over 700,000 young people.

Those who assert Russia could be sated with Ukrainian territory and neutrality always ignore the reality of what Russia does to those it occupies. Its invasion of Ukraine isn’t simply about a “buffer zone” with NATO. A state doesn’t need to erase the language and abduct the children of a people to guarantee its own security. But Russian officials are plain-spoken about the imperial ideology underpinning their war.

“I hate [Ukrainians],” wrote former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “They are scum and degenerates. They want death for us, for Russia.” Putin himself declared there is “no historical basis” for the “idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians.” Neither this [Ukrainian] nation nor this language should exist!” said one leading member of the Russian Duma. “Cleanse it all out, cleanse out all of its sources.”

Ukraine is at a precarious moment. When the Republican party selected Trump as its presidential nominee during its convention this summer, organizers passed out signs to attendees that read “Trump will end the Ukraine war,” an encapsulation of his vague promise of peace, without regard for the cost. But far more difficult is to grapple with the hard reality that any surrendering of land means sacrificing millions of Ukrainians to the genocidal aims of the Russian state.

[actualadvocacybruh]

People like @pineapplecake555 claims to disavow the IDF on their blogs when they commit sexual assault constantly and claims to care about sexual abuse victims but none have spoken once about any of the abuses they commit or the fact it’s a systemic issue that started with orders from officers and then being instructed to IGNORE the abuse as stated by over a dozen IDF whistleblowers who btw are detained and tortured as political prisoners when they come forward alongside conscripts who bravely refuse to assist in the genocide and actively fight against it inside of Israel

It’s worth noting that these same crimes are being committed by the Russians in Ukraine and the world recognized it as a crime instantly and sent more aid than they had supply for just to help stop it (funny how the white people are a priority but brown and black people are not)

For the record this isn’t “a few bad apples” this is an army that is directed and allowed to commit heinous crimes against humanity and have used rape and human shields in this genocide and anyone that defends them are scum undeserving of mercy or decency gifted to civilized society

For the record I know how militaries work … these abuses don’t happen when the chain of command is actively following the rules of war and stepping in to stop abuses

NCOs and Officers are expected even if not a written rule to step in and “deal with” such levels of disorder as it tends to harm combat effectiveness to have soldiers running around like militia thugs

The fact it’s not happening shows the officers are given orders (again backed by whistleblowers) that these abuses are not only tolerated but actively encouraged as a form of “retaliation and intimidation” as shown in a leaked document where an officer reported the rape of children at a check point and was told to ignore it and not write anything down

[williamkergroach55]

How Washington sold out Ukraine to take on Moscow…

Ten years ago, former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych signed an agreement with the opposition Euromaidan to resolve Ukraine's political crisis. The very next day, the opposition tore up the agreement and seized power by force. Behind Ukraine, the American Empire wanted to take over Russia. The story of a determined war.

After months of rioting, sparked by the Euromaidan movement, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych agreed to reform the constitution, form a "government of national unity" and hold early elections in December 2014. The Ukrainian president agreed to pardon rioters and launch investigations into abuses by law enforcement agencies. The February 21 agreements aimed at ending the political crisis in Ukraine were signed by Yanukovych and opposition leaders Vitaly Klitschko (Udar Party), Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Batkivshchina) and Oleh Tiagnybok (Svoboda Nationalist Party) in the presence of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Eric Fournier, Director of the Continental Europe Department at the French Foreign Ministry. The day after the agreement, on February 22, 2014, the buildings of the presidential administration, the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers were stormed by violent demonstrators. Maidan leaders appointed Oleksandr Turchynov as head of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, in violation of the country's constitution. Yanukovych was ousted. Speaking on television from Kharkiv, Yanukovych refused to resign: "I am a legally elected president. What is happening is blatant vandalism, banditry and a coup d'état", he declared. Nevertheless, EU leaders immediately declared that they would work with Ukraine's "new government", sweeping aside the agreements they had just secured the day before. February 2014. Yanukovych left Ukraine and fled to Russia.

Washington was behind the coup

Officially, the opposition was supported by the Europeans, but as Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in 2015, "We knew perfectly well that the real puppeteers were our American partners and friends."

In early February 2014, an intercepted conversation between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, a descendant of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants on her father's side, and US Ambassador to Ukraine, now US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources since 2022, Geoffrey Pyatt, spoke of bringing opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniouk to power, and putting Tiagnybok and Klitschko "on the sidelines". Nuland dropped: "Fuck the EU…" On February 27, 2014, Yatseniouk was appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine. Klitschko became mayor of Kiev on June 5, 2014. Tiagnybok was kept out of government.

Russia was the target.

After the coup, Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government brutally repressed its political opponents, promoting an openly Russophobic agenda, and sent the army against civilians in the Donbass, opposed to the coup against legitimate President Yanukovych. Larry Johnson, a former CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, believes that the West had simply decided to take control of Russia and its formidable natural wealth. "They were looking for a long-term strategy to isolate Russia. And the key to that was to get Ukraine into NATO, into the EU, and thus isolate Russia." At least, American strategists thought they could isolate Russia.

Broken agreements

Russia had hoped to put an end to the bloodshed in the Donbass thanks to the Minsk agreements. The Minska Protocol was signed on September 5, 2014 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with the aim of ending the war in Donbass. The agreements called for a cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, the release of prisoners of war and constitutional reform in Ukraine to grant autonomy to the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President François Hollande have since acknowledged that the Minsk agreements were maneuvers to buy time to arm and train the Ukrainian army. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, himself, admitted in an interview with Spiegel in February 2023 that he had never intended to observe the Minsk agreements; nor had the Euromaidan putchists intended to respect the agreements signed on February 21, 2014 with President Viktor Yanukovych.

Washington wants war.

The United States could have refused to integrate Ukraine into NATO, refrained from conducting military exercises with Ukraine, reopened discussions with Moscow on reviving the ABM Treaty and the INF Treaty on intermediate nuclear forces. The ABM Treaty (Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty) was signed in 1972 between the United States and the Soviet Union. The aim of this treaty was to limit the deployment of missile defense systems in order to discourage an arms race in this field. Both parties undertook to deploy only a limited number of missile defense systems, thus limiting the possibility of defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), signed in 1987 between the USA and the Soviet Union, prohibited the production, stockpiling and deployment of ballistic and land-based cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. This was a key element in reducing tensions during the Cold War, as it prohibited the deployment of an entire class of short- and medium-range nuclear weapons in Europe. These two treaties were seen as pillars of strategic stability between the USA and the Soviet Union, then Russia after the dissolution of the USSR. However, in 2002, under the George W. Bush administration, the United States announced its unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. The development of missile defense systems resumed. Similarly, in 2019, under Donald Trump's first term in office, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the INF Treaty. Russia announced its own withdrawal from the INF Treaty, and arms control no longer existed. President Biden repeatedly voiced his opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, claiming that it would increase Europe's energy dependence on Russia and weaken Europe's "energy security". The United States has threatened sanctions against companies and entities involved in the pipeline's construction, as well as against countries supporting the project. On February 6, 2022, at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US President Joe Biden warned: "If Russia invaded Ukraine, there would be no Nordstream 2. We will stop it. Asked how he would go about it, he replied, "I promise you we'll be able to do it." The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines actually took place on September 26, 2022 in the Baltic Sea, resulting in major gas leaks. The first, on Nord Stream 2, was discovered southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. Several hours later, two further leaks were discovered on Nord Stream 1 to the north-east of the island. This was a deliberate act, as traces of explosives had been found. In an article published on his blog on February 8, 2023, Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh asserts that the USA and Norway are behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, citing a single anonymous source with direct knowledge of operational planning.

The Russian Bear is patient.

Russia has always been open to negotiations. Moscow has maintained a dialogue with the Poroshenko and Zelensky governments to implement the Minsk agreements in order to respect the rights of Ukraine's Russian speakers while preserving the nation's territorial integrity. Petro Poroshenko's government was in office in Ukraine from June 7, 2014 to May 20, 2019. Poroshenko was elected President of Ukraine in May 2014, succeeding Viktor Yanukovych who had fled to Russia. As for Volodymyr Zelensky's government, it has been in office since May 20, 2019. Zelensky won the Ukrainian presidential election in April 2019, succeeding Petro Poroshenko as President of Ukraine. His government was formed shortly after his presidential inauguration and remains in office to this day. The Western press is silent on the fact that, before launching the military operation in Ukraine, Moscow sought to conclude agreements with the USA and NATO to ensure common European security. Draft agreements providing for NATO guarantees against eastward expansion and for Ukraine's neutral status were deliberately ignored by Washington, Brussels and, of course, the NATO leadership.

A month after the start of the special military operation, Russian and Ukrainian representatives signed preliminary peace agreements in Istanbul in March 2022. Davyd Arakhamia, who headed the Ukrainian delegation at the March 2022 Istanbul talks with Russia, told Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 in November 2023 that Moscow was ready to end the conflict if Ukraine committed to neutrality and refused to join NATO. However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to fight to the bitter end. Ex-Prime Minister Johnson was backed by European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell Fontelles, in April 2022, who promised hundreds of millions of euros for Kiev: "This war will be won on the battlefield", he tweeted… US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declared that Washington wanted to see "Russia weakened." The U.S. has spent over $100 billion, the European Union has given around €85 billion, to support Ukraine's military effort. The result is inconclusive.

worldnewsdigest@protonmail.com Source : Ekaterina Blinova https://sputnikglobe.com/20240221/euromaidan-was-part-of-wests-proxy-war-against-russia--cia-

[fante-di-denari]

To Be Loved (English)

Description: Skye MacTavish never fought for herself, always for someone else.

Warmings: Angst, hurt/confort, trauma, mention of child abuse, suicidal thoughts, canon violence, Barkov is not a good example of a father. Price is. Listen to To Be Loved by Aurora. Argentina oficial lenguage is spanish, I'm form there.

MiniTaglist: @yeyinde @johnnytavish @bloodonmyhands-1221 @crimsonbubble

Edit: Two of my signs in my big 3 are earth, so I found errors

Spanish Version

COD Masterlist

Sergeant Kamari never fought for herself, they never had someone who tell her that they can and should fight for herself, they were ripped from her family at a very young age and raised as a soldier, as a Russian soldier. Eliminate Skye MacTavish and only have Elena Romaneva Barkova exist, but they never succeeded, they tried everything, nothing about her was real at that moment, they age? False, she wasn’t an adult, they were just a little kid who had seen what human beings were capable of at a young age, she wasn’t the daughter of General Barkov and his late wife. How could they be his kid if she didn't even own a room in the Russian’s mansion? No, she was the daughter of Scots, they were the penultimate of her family, and until the day they returned, her bed was always in the same position, with the same sheets that they had left that day.

But they could never doubt an order, no, she never did, not until they met Farah and Hadir, those two people gave her hope to get out of that hell, they stopped fighting for a country that wasn’t hers, for a father who wasn’t, and began to fight for they two new siblings and to have the dream of meeting her twin again, with their other half, she helped them send messages to people who could save them. Although at the time she was sending them, only one thing crossed their mind, her siblings, her parents. They were sending the messages to the British army, there were tensions between Russia and the United Kingdom, they would not take long to answer them, in the meantime as well she tried to send messages abroad, to the Liberation Forces, they did everything at night, everything at night, that's how she earned being called Kamari, Karim's moon.

Although of course, not everything could be calm, Barkov was suspicious, he knew, but he wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, he wanted to see if they would give up and stop fighting for something that would not serve them, in his eyes Skye would never stop being Elena and Farah would never be free, Urzikstan would never stop being a nest of terrorists in his eyes. But they didn't, out of thirty messages sent in a month, they intercepted fifteen, he had no choice but to interrogate them and get the truth out of them, first he went for the Scottish, he thought that breaking they would be easier, she was still young, he hadn't lived that long, but he had underestimated them, he didn’t take into consideration the MacTavish charm, they are a family of stubborn who fight for what they believe, and Skye never believed in the Russian cause, she believed in the cause of the Arab, she believed and believes in Farah Karim and would do everything in their power to help her.

She didn't say a word, they didn't say who Karim was, she didn't say who Kamari was, they didn't say where the messages went, she denied everything. But of course, you can't lie to someone who already knows the truth, they were locked up in solitary confinement for a few hours, with her face bruised and their muscles numb, before she was taken with the other prisoners, they were able to recover sensation in her body at the moment when Karim came in to rescue them. The moment Lieutenant John Price stepped into their lives to save them, they knew her efforts were worth it, they knew she had a chance to go back to their twin, to her family, but it didn't feel right. they hadn't looked at Price's face, she was only looking at Farah and Hadir, it wasn't because they didn't feel grateful, or that she was rude, no, of course not, it was because they didn't want to say something impulsive, say who she was, that the Russians had held them for four long years, but she didn’t want to abandon their siblings and cousins, at that point in her life they didn’t know anything other than fighting, unfortunately she didn’t know anything else about in their young years.

As the years passed, not fighting for herself didn’t change so much, instead, they dedicated her life to protecting their sister's cause, she hid from the Russians in plain sight, earning the nickname "the assassin of the moon", they attacked from night under her sister's orders, they took her body to extremes to be prepared for everything, to defend her siblings and cousins, even though they treated them like a little girl and denied them some nightly guard rounds, claiming that children have to sleep to grow up healthy. As the years went by, his conscience began to forget the faces of her family, they forget how her mother's voice sounded, how their father's eyes looked at her with paternal love, they forgot the faces of her older siblings, the sweet face of their baby brother. Did her parents have another child? have they forgotten about them? Could they have told her little brother about them? She didn't know it, and it was eating at their brain and heart. Farah saw this, observed how in front of the soldiers of the Liberation Forces they behaved normally, silent, but always ready to help in whatever was necessary, always with a smile following orders, she saw how she woke up from some nightmare, she could differentiate well when it was a memory, their crying and the fear in her eyes were different, in one there was a real fear, her way of breathing would be erratic, and whispered that they didn’t want forget. But when it was a memory, she didn't cry, but they looked everywhere, making sure she hadn't returned to that hell, of not going back with the man who separated them from her other half, with who promised to save her, but instead, condemned them.

As the years went by, she began to have a little habit, of hiding behind their brother Hadir when she felt that they were about to collapse, Alex was able to notice how the youngest of the siblings tried to hide behind the oldest, put her head on his shoulder and they grabbed his hand, he accepted it and comforted her, whispering to them in Arabic, not turning to look at her, it would be useless and they would only refuse to speak if they see her face. Of course say that his betrayal affects them is say very little, say that she felt how their broken heart was being destroyed was being a little inaccurate. They couldn't take it, so before she couldn't breathe and felt their world collapsing more than it already was, she covered their eyes and closed her heart, trying to make herself smaller in their seat.

–Kamari, look at me –It was... it was Farah's voice, it was heard far away, she knew she was in front of them, she felt the pressure of her hands on their wrists, she wanted to see her face, but they couldn't let her do it, what would she think of her if she saw them like that? She couldn't let her do it. They forced herself not to take her hands out of their face –. My moon, everything will be fine, we will bring Hadir back and we will make him pay – She wanted to believe her, they truly wanted, but she just couldn't, it wasn't their thing to be the one with high expectations –. Skye, let me see you, please, I can’t know if you are okay if you don’t let me know – Perhaps the fact that she said her real name, one that only she and Hadir knew at the time and not a nickname that had welcomed them with open arms for more than ten years, was what made her stop straining, and let her lift their face, cradling it between her hands. Her eyes moved to Alex, Price, Laswell and Gaz, but returned to their sister, who caressed her cheeks and kissed their forehead, as she always did on nights when the demons seemed to ask her to surrender to the Moon.

–Hadir, he knows what Barkov did to me with that gas, he, he lived it, he knows how many times. –Their voice trailed off, her sister hugged them, Skye wasn't crying, her voice was cracking, but they weren’t crying –. He knows how many times I was about to die under Barkov's order with that gas, why did he steal it? –She pulled their head out of her sister's chest, the mere idea that their brother had betrayed them caused the most terrifying ideas to climb through her brain, their deepest fears came out, her head shook in denial, trying to get rid of any ideas they had –. I don't want to go back to that, I want to stay with you or go back to Scotland, but I don't want to be Elena again, I can't become that again. –Her forehead was placed on the familiar shoulder; their sister was humming a lullaby in her ear.

–You won't be Elena again, you'll still be Skye, you'll still be Kamari, you'll still be my sister, my moon. –Those words were what the eldest told them when the memories of her life as Elena Barkova didn’t let them breathe.

She knew that the mission to bring Hadir back and capture the Wolf was going to bring more harm than good the moment their sister and Alex were separated from her and the rest due to that explosion, they felt it in her chest and on their stomach, she called on the radio every five minutes looking for any sign of Farah, they couldn't lose her too, but they didn't, by the grace of some divine being, she was able to sigh calmly again when they saw that her commander came out together with the blue eyed with live from those tunnels, next to the corpse of The Wolf in a bag. Although their little happiness didn't last long, the US government had put them and the Liberation Forces on the terrorist list, it almost went to the colonel's neck if it weren't for the fact that their sister stopped her and that Price said, almost, the words they would have said. They returned, without Hadir and being "terrorists", but with their favourite American boy.

In those days, she hardly slept at all, they felt that if she did, their sister would disappear, as Leslie did from one moment to the next when she was eight years old, they were only able to sleep once, and that was when she was sitting next to their commander, with her head on her shoulder and the blonde men on their other side, holding their hands, she was safe, nothing bad was going to happen, that's what they heard from both of them before dreaming, it was one of the few times she didn't have any nightmare, it was more like a sweet dream, that night they dreamed of her home in Scotland, that they were eight years old again, she dreamed of their mother's eyes, of her father's hugs, they ran with her brothers and kissed their baby brother’s head.

When the whole nightmare ended, it was the moment when Farah told them that Barkov had fallen, they felt as if a great weight had disappeared from her shoulders, as if their back was lighter, she had released an air that they never imagined she had been holding, would even have fallen if it weren't for Gaz, who held them up when he saw her stagger.

– Hey, ‘re you alright? – he asked worried, grabbing the sergeant

–I’m free. –That was what they whispered, still not believing that her biggest monster was dead, one of their reasons for being alive was to see the general fall, another was to help Farah, and the last one was to return home, but he still thought that this was something that she couldn't do.

Convincing her that they can go back to the UK, to Scotland, took a full week for Farah, although she couldn't have done it without Price's help, the captain wanted the Scot as a sergeant in his new task force, but it wasn't until that they reached an agreement that the government would not tell her family anything until they officially entered the task force, that lasted less than a year, during which time Price welcomed her into his home, in a second room that he had. although they rarely used it, in fact, whenever she was in the house, they could be found in two places: in the patio or in the living room. The captain had a few weeks off, in which he helped Skye mentally prepare for what was coming, helped her adapt to not being in constant danger, he had even asked his boyfriend to help him, he also had vacations and was softer than the captain when he spoke, so they both helped the Scot, in everything they could.

–How do you feel? are you adjusting well? –They were in a park with Gaz at night, the sergeant had taken them out of the house to give the captain privacy with his partner if you know what I mean.

– I still can't get used to the fact that the stars aren't visible and I don't sleep outdoors, but other than that, I'm adjusting. Is it normal for people to look at me so much when I go out? –Her feet helped them move the swing she was on, they hadn't been on one of these since she was a child, that made them smile.

– People look at what attracts their attention, and you attract the attention, in the intriguing way. – The young man was sitting on the swing on the right, watching how little by little the speed with which she was swinging increased, he smiled looking how happy they were. Skye was like a scared cat sometimes; you want to help her but you know they’re going to hurt you if you go rough. –And I know a good spot to watch stars, one of these days I'll take you there

–I don’t understand. –she had told him smiling confused by the first thing he said, about people looking at them because she was interesting

–You will, believe me.

And of course he did, but that story is for another day, time passed and Skye finally joined the SAS training, Martin left and came back, but every time he returned to Argentina, he did so with a sour taste in his mouth, he wished he could help the young folk a little more, they both wanted it, Price knew her a little better than Ferrero, he had seen how they put the lives of others above her own, how they obeyed Farah's orders as if they were religious prayers on a Mass Sunday, but the pampeano was methodical, he knew body language, he knew people, and he had noticed how the younger behaved, as if she were lost in life without having anyone to tell them what to do, as if she had no purpose, they both talked about it with the pillow, they both put together all the details, the behavior of the Scot, what they had told Farah when they found out about Hadir's betrayal, how she reacted to Barkov's death and reached a conclusion, one that made the Brit want to have been the one who ended the Russian's life. But he had decided to let it go, help them of course, but without necessarily talking about it, he thank life ageing for making his path cross that of Martin, he didn’t know where he would be now without him, because when His Sea found out, he scold him and tell him that he wasn't helping her that way, that he didn't care how the English did it, that this was not how a child who had been abused.

– Kid, I want to tell you something – The older began to speak, he had asked the Scot for a word, they were face to face in his office at the 141 base, the younger had that weekend off but before going home she decided to spend some time with their favourite captain, each with a cup of tea, the captain had bought a cup for the black-haired, just for her, no one could use it, Gaz told him that he played favourites, nonsense, he had bought one for him too –. It has to do with your life under Barkov's care.

–Is old story Price, it happened a long time ago. –they spoke quickly, trying to end the conversation without starting it.

– It will have been a long time ago, but it still has an effect on you moony – Price wasn't going to let her avoid trouble, not when it could lead to them dying stupidly –. You experienced something that no child should go through. Why didn't you say anything at that moment? I was able to bring you to your parent years ago.

– I wasn't the Skye my family remembers, nor am I now –She paused, avoiding the captain's eyes, they sighed to continue –. I had to help Farah and Hadir, I couldn't use them to my advantage.

– Although I admire your sense of honor, you were twelve years old, you were beaten up and I'm sure that you stayed behind bothered them more than it would have been for you to come back.

–It's an old story, I made my decisions, at that point I wasn't Skye anymore, I was a soldier and don't tell me about age, Martin told me you joined the army at sixteen.

–I was sixteen, not twelve and I did it on my own free will.

–Staying was my free will! – She hadn't wanted to raise their voice, she stood still when they finished speaking, holding their cup in her hands, he was going to be their superior, she couldn't go yelling at their superiors like that.

–A guilt-driven will is not a free will, moony – it was the voice of the experience that spoke, calm, he didn’t want to upset the kid more –. What I'm saying is that you are now free from Barkov's shadow, you will never be Elena again and you no longer have to fight for someone else, fight for yourself.

Sergeant Kamari never fought for herself, they never had someone who tell her that they can and should fight for herself, they were ripped from her family at a very young age and raised as a soldier, as a Russian soldier. No one ever told her to fight for herself, not until that day, those months, and that afternoon. Jonathan Price had been more of a father than Barkov had been in the four years Elena was alive. Although, of course, Seelie still struggles with many emotional things to this day, but everything is a process that she goes through alongside her family and accompanied by her psychologist.

[beardedmrbean]

In an extraordinary interview, Yle was able to speak with two Russian men who defected during the summer — Andrei hiked through forests to cross the border and Tomas, who came by a sailboat and rubber dinghy via the Gulf of Finland.

The men's names have been changed for security reasons.

Illegal departure and desertion in Russia carry long prison sentences, in addition to the potential risk of death. Both men also still have families in Russia.

Yle knows the identities of the men and has also seen their Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) ID cards. Efforts have been made to verify their backgrounds as far as possible.

Video shows unauthorised border crossing

According to Andrei's own account, he hitchhiked from somewhere far away in Russia, first to St Petersburg and then to Vyborg. From there, he walked to the Finnish border. After crossing the border, he bumped into a Finnish woman and asked her to call the authorities.

He would not say any more about his journey. Andrei wanted to come to Finland because he had a good impression of the country.

The video below shows him crossing the Finnish-Russian border without permission. The fence in the video is not one of the new barrier fences being constructed on the eastern border, but a standard border fence.

The video and audio have been edited for security reasons.

After serving three months as a contract soldier, Andrei decided to terminate his contract in the autumn of 2021 because of the army's shortcomings.

His superiors did not accept his resignation. According to Andrei, he was also abused by his platoon's deputy commander. Andrei never returned to his unit and was charged with unauthorised absence without leave.

In June 2022, Andrei was again ordered to return to his unit, but he disobeyed.

"The war in Ukraine had begun. I was against that war and did not want to go to Ukraine to fight. All my relatives are also against this war," Andrei said.

Andrei fled the army in Russia for a year with his family. At the beginning of the summer, he was issued a wanted notice for desertion.

Andrei made the decision. Legally, he would have had no chance of leaving the country.

"I decided to leave my family in Russia, as they are not threatened for the time being, and crossed the Finnish border without permission. I had no other choice," said Andrei.

According to Andrei, desertion in Russia can get you up to 15 years in prison.

Yle has previously reported how Russia now also blackmails conscripts into the army in every possible way.

The upper age limit for compulsory military service was recently raised to 30 and all men between the ages of 18 and 30 years will be called up for military service from the beginning of next year. Penalties for refusing to carry out military service are also being expanded, including the revocation of driver's licences.

Instead, Andrei is now seeking asylum in Finland.

He hopes to get a positive decision from Migri because he wants to reunite his family.

"I want to reunite with my family as soon as possible, I miss them very much. I want to see my son, his smile. I don't want my son to grow up in an occupying country, I want him to see how great the world is," Andrei told Yle.

Escape to Finland by rubber dinghy

Tomas and his nephew escaped from the port of Primorsk, near Vyborg, on a sailboat in mid-June.

The men's primary goal was to get to the United States one way or another. Reaching Finland was not their intention.

However, the Russian Coast Guard spotted their boat leaving Russian territorial waters and went after it. According to Tomas, they left the sailboat at sea, where it was intercepted by the Russian Coast Guard.

"We had no choice but to get on a rubber boat, which was harder to spot, and escape in the direction of Finland," he told Yle.

The men were eventually caught by Finland's Gulf of Finland Coast Guard.

Tomas said he is a businessman and has opposed the Putin regime.

"I was criminally charged with fraud with the aim of taking over my company and silencing me and my activism," he told Yle News.

Tomas said he was in pre-trial detention, released and then re-investigated by a lower court.

He is a fierce critic of the Russian judicial system.

"There is no control over the courts in Russia. They act entirely at their own discretion and decide for themselves what is law and justice," he said.

The escape was also prompted by Russia's continued need for men on the Ukrainian front.

"If I had been taken into custody, I would definitely have been recruited into Wagner's forces. That would have been offered to me as an alternative to my release," said Tomas.

Tomas holds a pessimistic outlook towards his home country.

"One thing I can say for sure about Russia. Russia will remain under Putin's illegitimate regime for a very long time," he

According to Tomas, Russia has two options. Either all the people in the Putin-led group will die, or there will be a revolution.

"I think that's radical, but it's still possible," said Tomas.

Charges of fraud, illegal departure and avoiding war in Ukraine would mean long prison sentences for Tomas and his nephew in Russia.

He hopes for one thing from Finland.

"I hope to be welcomed here and have my safety guaranteed, if that is possible. If not, I will look for another place," said Tomas.

Are Russian asylum seekers a security threat?

There are currently 1,275 asylum applications from Russians pending at Migri.

Last year there were 1,180 applications. Of these, 775 were filed after Russia declared a partial mobilisation last September. The majority of applicants are men.

Migri confirmed to Yle that there are Russian soldiers among the asylum seekers.

At the moment, however, asylum decisions for adult Russian men have been suspended.

Migri is awaiting a common EU policy on how to deal with Russians who justify their application on the grounds of Russian mobilisation. A decision is expected in the autumn.

There is some concern over whether Russian intelligence agents or military personnel would falsely claim asylum.

Petteri Lalu, a senior analyst at the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo), pointed out that a military profession or previous military training does not in itself make an asylum seeker a threat to national security.

However, he acknowledged that there may be people among asylum seekers who have motives other than the need for asylum.

"Identifying such people is part of the security authorities' professional skills," said Lalu.

In Lalu's view, however, the likelihood of Russian intelligence officers entering the country as asylum seekers is low.

Pressure on eastern border increasing?

According to Commander Juho Vanhatalo, a border security expert at the Finnish Border Guard, the situation surrounding the war in Ukraine has not yet been reflected in unauthorised border crossings. Rather, tensions between Finland and Russia have increased.

Vanhatalo believes that the longer the war goes on, the more it will affect the people of St Petersburg and the border region of Karelia.

The pressure will increase, especially on Russians who are not allowed to leave the country because of lack of a foreign passport, unfinished military service, a criminal case or some other reason.

"Even before the war in Ukraine, Russia had, and still has, large numbers of people who would like to come to Finland and Europe if they have the opportunity," Vanhatalo told Yle.

[sa7abnews]

Freed American prisoners Gershkovich and Whelan may face ‘disruptive’ trauma, say mental health experts

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/09/freed-american-prisoners-gershkovich-and-whelan-may-face-disruptive-trauma-say-mental-health-experts/

Freed American prisoners Gershkovich and Whelan may face ‘disruptive’ trauma, say mental health experts

While Thursday’s release of American prisoners from Russia was marked by celebration and relief, the former captives could face future health challenges, experts say.Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American veteran Paul Whelan were among those released from Russia on Thursday in a large prisoner swap.A third U.S. citizen, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, was also released.US-RUSSIAN PRISONER EXCHANGES OVER THE YEARS: SEE THE LISTA plane carrying the freed Americans landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland late Thursday night, where they were greeted by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.The newly released prisoners were then flown to San Antonio, Texas, for evaluation and rehabilitation at Brooke Army Medical Center, a premier military medical facility, according to reports.Although the prisoners are safely back on U.S. soil and have been reunited with their families, they may experience mental health challenges stemming from the trauma of detainment, said experts.”Besides the obvious threats to one’s safety and the horrifying prospect of confinement, a situation like this is fraught with uncertainty,” Dr. Norman Blumenthal, director of the Ohel Zachter Family National Trauma Center in New York, told Fox News Digital. WSJ REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH RELEASED BY RUSSIA IN PRISONER SWAP; PAUL WHELAN ALSO BEING FREED”Ambiguity in and of itself induces stress — and that, coupled with their very predicament, can create a marked escalation of trauma.” (None of the experts cited here have treated the released Americans.)Dr. Karen DeCocker, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner director at Stella Centers in Chicago, noted that being held captive can lead to several types of trauma. “This varies from person to person based on prior history and the experiences encountered during captivity,” she told Fox News Digital.TRUMP’S ATTEMPTED ASSASSIN WAS A ‘LONER,’ FBI SAYS, AS EXPERTS SHARE TELLTALE SIGNS IN OTHERS ACROSS AMERICAWhile each person reacts differently to trauma, Blumenthal predicted that the freed prisoners would likely experience an “initial thrill and exhilaration” from their liberation. “The celebrations and enthusiastic reunions with loved ones can temporarily overshadow the trauma,” he noted. “As life returns to normal and routines set in, that is often when the frightening flashbacks and intrusive recollections can become disruptive and destabilizing.”Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, said it is likely the prisoners experienced physical and mental abuse, sleep deprivation, dehydration, malnutrition and possibly infections.Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist and author based in New York City, said that Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva, along with the other released prisoners, may suffer from both acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). WHAT IS PTSD? SYMPTOMS THAT CAN EMERGE AFTER EXPERIENCING A TRAUMATIC EVENTASD is a short-term mental health condition that typically occurs within a month after a traumatic experience, according to Cleveland Clinic’s website.”Acute stress disorder may include flashbacks, nightmares, intense fear and high anxiety,” Alpert told Fox News Digital.  It can also include feelings of numbness or detachment.PTSD occurs when such symptoms persist for a month or longer, and the anxiety becomes chronic, according to Alpert.FDA PANEL REJECTS MDMA-ASSISTED THERAPIES FOR PTSD DESPITE HIGH HOPES FROM VETERANSPTSD may include many of the same symptoms as ASD, and can impair the person’s ability to function in daily activities.The freed prisoners may also experience depression, anger and difficulty trusting others, said Alpert.   “I’ve also seen people have trouble focusing and making decisions in light of a trauma,” he added.It could also be challenging for the former prisoners to reintegrate into their normal environments and social groups, Alpert said.Symptoms of trauma are “not universal,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.”There are differences, and not everyone experiences PTSD,” he said. “Common symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, depersonalization and derealization, anxiety and depression.”DeCocker noted that symptoms can be both mental and physical — including the following five points.”Individuals may experience dissociation, where they feel disconnected from their thoughts, feelings or sense of identity,” DeCocker told Fox News Digital. TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT COULD HAVE WIDESPREAD MENTAL HEALTH IMPACT, EXPERTS SAY: ‘VICARIOUS TRAUMA’”This can manifest as feeling detached from oneself (depersonalization) or from the world around them (derealization).”Some trauma survivors may feel a sense of guilt for having survived a traumatic experience when others did not, or for putting themselves or others in situations that led to captivity, DeCocker said. They may also feel guilty about the stress and anxiety that family members and loved ones experienced during their imprisonment. “Issues with trust, intimacy and personal relationships often occur with survivors and their families,” DeCocker told Fox News Digital. “The impact of their captivity often comes from their inability to relate the experience to others.”Trauma survivors may experience feelings of shame, worthlessness or confusion about their identity, according to DeCocker. “In this case, where there was an exchange of prisoners, there may be added complexity,” she said.It’s not uncommon for trauma survivors to have negative beliefs about themselves or the world, according to DeCocker. “Generalizations about the world being unsafe or out of their control can occur,” she said. “Threats are often seen in everyday experiences.”Potential physical symptoms could include chronic pain, such as headaches or muscle pain, in addition to persistent fatigue and lack of energy, according to Nikki Bishop, a licensed clinical psychologist and clinical director at SunCloud Health in Chicago.”A person may also experience gastrointestinal issues such as stomach pain, nausea and changes in appetite,” she told Fox News Digital. TRUMP’S ATTEMPTED ASSASSIN WAS A ‘LONER,’ FBI SAYS, AS EXPERTS SHARE TELLTALE SIGNS IN OTHERS ACROSS AMERICA”Additionally, cardiovascular risks could occur, such as increased blood pressure, heart palpitations and increased risk of heart disease.”To cope with painful feelings, people can sometimes turn to substance use, process addictions, eating disorders and even food addiction as a means of trying to numb the pain, Bishop added.Given the high-profile release, Gershkovich and Whelan will likely receive a large amount of media attention, Alpert noted — “but it’s important that they have the space and privacy they need to process this on their own timeline.”DeCocker agreed, stressing the importance of taking extensive time to heal and recover. “There is no rush to reintegrate,” she told Fox News Digital. “Time is best devoted toward rest and restoring a sense of balance and normalcy.”Embracing daily routines and structure can help with that, DeCocker said.The freed prisoners may also want to avoid spending too much time on social media and the news in the early days to avoid retriggering discussions and events, she advised.One “tried-and-true method” of coping is to retell the events to supportive people who act as listeners, not solvers, according to Blumenthal. “Putting the experience into words can help with healing and adjusting to the more mundane aspects of life and routine,” he said.If symptoms are interfering with day-to-day functioning, Alpert recommends seeking professional help.”In the case of a severe trauma, such as being held prisoner and wrongly convicted, symptoms may not surface right away,” he pointed out. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER”It can be helpful to get ahead of it and speak to a specialist.” All forms of professional help are useful, DeCocker noted. Those include talk therapy, psychiatric support, interventional treatment modalities specific to treating trauma, and physical treatments and therapies to heal the body.Other treatments may include cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, and medications such as beta blockers, antidepressants and potentially psychedelics, according to Siegel.Support from loving family members and friends is also key, the doctor added.For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews/healthMost people do have an “inherent resilience and capacity to hope,” Blumental said.”These and other freed hostages may, on their own, mobilize and harness strength and heroic reformulations of their recent incarceration to go on and resume normal functioning.”Scott McDonald of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.17 (after 1930)

1930 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law. 1932 – Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits. 1933 – Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash. 1939 – Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison. 1940 – World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster. 1940 – World War II: The British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces. 1940 – The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union. 1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic. 1948 – United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. 1952 – Guatemala passes Decree 900, ordering the redistribution of uncultivated land. 1953 – Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion. 1958 – The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others. 1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty. 1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools. 1963 – A day after South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed. 1967 – Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon. 1971 – U.S. President Richard Nixon in a televised press conference called drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the War on drugs. 1972 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process. 1985 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist. 1987 – With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct. 1989 – Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people. 1991 – Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth. 1992 – A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). 1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. 2015 – Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 2017 – A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others. 2021 – Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

[girlactionfigure]

German Political Prisoner: Ludwig Worl

The First Righteous

Ludwig Worl was a German human rights activist who spent 11 years in Nazi concentration camps and went to extraordinary lengths to help the Jews imprisoned there.

Born in Germany in 1906, Ludwig was trained as a carpenter. As the Nazi party rose to power in the 1930’s,  Ludwig was strongly opposed to their fascist ideology and became an early anti-Nazi activist. In 1933, soon after Hitler came to power, the Nazi leader began building concentration camps to incarcerate his political opponents. Ludwig became aware of the horrific conditions in the camps, and decided to do something to raise public awareness of the human-rights abuses there. He self-published informational pamphlets about the persecution of German political prisoners and handed them out on street corners. 

The Nazis arrested Ludwig in 1934 and he was imprisoned at Dachau and held in a squalid holding cell for nine months. He was then transferred to the camp’s carpentry shop, and after that to the medical clinic, where he trained to become a paramedic. He spent eight years in Dachau and then in 1942 he was transferred to Auschwitz because of a typhoid epidemic there. Tens of thousands of prisoners and staff were dying of typhus, and Ludwig was part of a team of seventeen male prisoner/medics who went to manage the outbreak. 

Highly intelligent and effective at his job, Ludwig became the manager of the Auschwitz hospital barracks, mostly filled with Jews. Against direct orders, he covertly employed Jewish doctors in the clinic, saving them from the gas chambers. Ludwig cared for his Jewish patients with great dedication, and took significant personal risks to get medical supplies for them. He also falsified patient data lists to save Jews from being marked for death. His brave actions led to him being taken from the clinic and put in solitary confinement. After a few months, he was released because the Nazis required competent medical personnel at Guntergrube, a forced-labor camp nearby. 

At Guntergrube, Ludwig was put in charge of his fellow prisoners. In this position, he continued to break camp rules and help Jewish prisoners. He found warm clothing to help them survive the brutal Polish winter, and food rations to keep them from starving. He also exempted sick prisoners from hard labor. As the Russian Red Army approached to liberate the camps, the Nazis forced Jews onto death marches, and Ludwig helped several Jews escape. 

After the war, Ludwig started the Auschwitz Prisoners Organization to help survivors rebuild their lives. At a time when many Germans wanted to forget what had happened, Ludwig remained an outspoken opponent of Nazism. He obsessively searched for former concentration camp guards, determined that they be punished for their crimes against humanity. In 1963 he testified at the Auschwitz war crime trial in Frankfurt. He spent the final years of his life speaking publicly about Auschwitz, to make sure that the horrors he witnessed there were never forgotten.

On March 19, 1963, Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem honored Ludwig Worl as Righteous Among the Nations. He was the first person to be so honored. Eleven years in Nazi concentration camps ruined Ludwig’s health, and he died in Germany in 1967 at 61 years old.

For protecting Jews and bringing Nazis to justice, we honor Ludwig Worl as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[valkyries-things]

ANNIKA SVAHN // PRISONER OF WAR

“She was a Finnish prisoner of war during the Great Northern War. The daughter of a vicar, she became the perhaps most well known victim of the abuse suffered by the civilian population in Finland during the Russian occupation Greater Wrath. Svahn was abducted naked from her sauna by a group of Russian soldiers and brought as a slave to Saint Petersburg. In Saint Petersburg, she, as well as a couple of other Finnish females, were given some military training. She was given a dragoon uniform and, alongside other Finnish women with a similar history, she was ordered to Finland to assist the Russian army in its conquest of Swedish Finland. She was wounded by a bullet in her thigh outside Borgå in 1714. The same year, she was given the task to act as a messenger for the Russians. She planned to desert, but was captured by the Swedish army on her way. She made her confession for the Swedish army authorities, who documented it. It is not known what happened to her after this.”

[ultrajaphunter]

Dozens of mobilised RuZZians are being detained illegally in a network of improvised prisons in occupied territories of Ukraine, where they are being abused and living in terrible conditions, according to an investigation by ASTRA

Reports from several outlets over the last few weeks have indicated that the Russian army is dealing harshly with soldiers who refuse to fight, by imprisoning, starving, beating and pressuring them until they agree to return to the front lines.

This is not a new practice. Reports from before the start of mobilisation stated that some professional contract soldiers were being treated similarly, despite being legally permitted at the time to resign from their contracts. But it's clearly been stepped up now.

ASTRA was able to identify 7 prisons in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (there are probably more), using reports from relatives and in some cases from imprisoned soldiers themselves. The soldiers, who are mostly being held in basements, have managed to send photos and videos.

Up to 60 prisoners have been identified by ASTRA. They are being held in locations that include:

A basement in Zaitseve in Luhansk oblast, where 43 men were being held. Before being deployed they were given minimal training, consisting of shooting a few times, digging trenches and basic first aid.

They were sent to the front line around 20 October, likely in the Svatove-Kreminna area. At the front, they were abandoned by their officers and had no logistical support at all.

They had no means of communication and received no supplies of food, water or ammunition The son of one of the men says they had no food and water and "ate what they could find, drank from a puddle! Nothing was brought to them, they were simply sent to their deaths."

They were heavily shelled by the Ukrainians, causing deaths and injuries. The lightly armed Russians didn't see a single Ukrainian soldier but couldn't have fought back anyway as their meagre supply of ammunition soon ran out.

After days of shelling and with no food, they left the front on 28 October and walked to Starobilsk, 60 km away. Their relatives rented a bus to bring them home. However, the men were stopped at the border and sent to the village of Zaitseve, where they are being imprisoned.