#anti-putin underground

[tomorrowusa]

A pro-invasion Russian blogger was blown up in a St. Petersburg café on Sunday. Some of Putin’s mouthpieces have tried to blame the assassination on Ukraine, but the reality may be far more worrisome for Putin and his ruling cult.

Russian police have arrested a woman suspected of delivering a bomb that killed a prominent pro-war Russian military blogger in a blast in a cafe in central St Petersburg on Sunday, as authorities blamed Ukraine for the attack.

Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed by a bomb blast as he was hosting a discussion with other pro-war commentators at a cafe on the banks of the Neva River in the historic heart of St Petersburg.

Police said they had identified a woman called Darya Trepova as the suspect and that she was arrested in an apartment in St Petersburg after a search on Monday morning. Authorities said she was a supporter of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

In a statement, Russia’s national antiterrorism committee claimed the attack was “planned by the special services of Ukraine with the involvement of agents from those who had cooperated with the so-called Navalny Anti-Corruption Fund [Foundation]”.

While theoretically possible, it’s doubtful that Ukraine would waste time and resources on a small piece of shit like Vladlen Tatarsky (real name: Maxim Fomin).

It’s true that Tatarsky was a hatemonger – but so are a lot of Russian media personalities, many of them more high profile in the Putin media ecosystem. Tatarsky was a fairly typical Russian fascist blowhard.

Anton Gerashchenko in Ukraine posted a typical bit of a Tatarsky tirade.

Darya Trepova, the suspect in the killing, doesn’t seem to have any connection to Ukraine. It’s far more likely that she may have links to an anti-Putin underground engaged in partisan violence against the dictatorship.

ICYMI, a while back I posted this short doc by independent journalist Jake Hanrahan who spoke with members of the anti-Putin underground who were engaged in acts of sabotage against the régime.

It’s less politically damaging for Putin to have Russians believe that these acts are caused by Ukraine rather than by Russian partisans opposed to the war.

[mariacallous]

Should Ukraine finally lose this war, the costs—military, economic, political—for the U.S. and its allies will not go down. On the contrary, they are likely to increase, and not only in Europe. Since 2022, the military and defense-industry links among Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China have strengthened. Iran has delivered drones and missiles to Russia. Russia, in turn, may be providing anti-ship missiles to the Houthis, Iranian proxies who could use them against American and European commercial and military ships in the Red Sea. According to a recent Reuters report, the Russians are now constructing a major drone factory in China. The Chinese stand to benefit, that is, from the huge technological gains that the Russians have made, in many cases by imitating the Ukrainians in drone warfare and other systems, even if Americans aren’t paying close attention.

A failure to defeat Russia will be felt not just in Europe but also in the Middle East and Asia. It will be felt in Venezuela, where Putin’s aggressive defiance has surely helped inspire his ally Nicolás Maduro to stay in power despite losing an election in a landslide. It will be felt in Africa, where Russian mercenaries now support a series of ugly regimes. And, of course, this failure will be felt by Ukraine’s neighbors. I doubt very much that Germany and France, let alone Poland, are prepared for the consequences of a truly failed Ukraine, for a collapse of the Ukrainian state, for lawlessness or Russian-Mafia rule at the European Union’s eastern doorstep, as well as for the violence and crime that would result.

The means to prevent that kind of international catastrophe are right in front of us, in the form of Ukraine’s drone factories, the underground sea-drone laboratory, the tools now being designed to enable the Ukrainian army to beat a larger opponent—and also in the form of our own industrial capacity. The democratic world remains wealthier and more dynamic than the autocratic world. To stay that way, Ukraine and its Western allies have to persuade Russia to stop fighting. We have to win this war.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Address by Zelenskyy on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II

“They break into your house. They come to kill, burn, execute. They don't spare anyone – the elderly, women, children… They are beasts…”

These are the memories of the Nazi occupation survivors. 

And these are the memories of the Russian occupation survivors. The same horrors, the crimes of the same monsters. 

80 years ago, millions of Ukrainians fought to defeat Nazism forever. But today, Ukrainians are once again standing up to evil, which reemerged, returned, and wants to destroy us again. It’s an army of a fiend that kills, tortures and wipes peaceful cities and villages off the face of the Earth. This evil is called Russian fascism, or RF for short.

A witness to this is this basement in the village of Yahidne in the Chernihiv region. The ruscists herded all the villagers into it and kept them there for almost a month. All of them. 350 people, all the children of this village, 80 girls and boys, the youngest of whom was a month and a half old. Everyone in the world can understand what Putin's Russia is by imagining themself here, in this basement, among these people, without light, food, water, medicine, and air, in a room with less than a meter per person. They slept seated. They went outside only once. They ate 200 grams of soup a day. The men were stripped naked in the freezing cold to find Ukrainian tattoos. 10 of the hostages died here. It was forbidden to bury them. Another 17 people were killed by the ruscists. In any corner of the world, that’s known by the same word – hell. When entire villages are burned down, when there are mass executions, when people are put against a wall blindfolded to be killed – in any corner of the world, that's known by the same word – Nazism. If that's not Nazism, then what is that? 

And everyone on Earth knows history and remembers how to fight Nazism. It’s done with humanity united to oppose Hitler, not with buying oil from him or attending his inauguration.

Yahidne, a village that survived the hell of the RF, is just one example. It's just one village, but it reflects the essence of Putin's vision of the world, his real goals. And his goal is to force underground all those who want to live freely, to force a whole village into the basement, and then another one, and then the whole of Ukraine, and finally, force the whole world into the basement. For the RF, these are just stages of their morbid plan to imprison freedom in a ghetto, in a concentration camp called the "Russian world," and to export Russia's main asset – barbed wire – worldwide, by repeating the same scenario Hitler created 80 years ago: swallowing the lands of others step by step and testing the world’s reaction. And when the reaction is spineless, the Nazis keep going. Appeals, resolutions, and half-sanctions don't stop them. And the only question Putin is concerned about today is: Who's next?

Russia has officially approved a list of states that cannot feel safe and called it a “List of Unfriendly States.” Tellingly, it almost completely coincides with the list of the states of the Anti-Hitler Coalition. Those who defeated Nazism are enemies for modern Russia: the countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and almost fifty states in total. They are free, democratic and independent, which in the modern Kremlin ideology means “dangerous.” And therefore, they are targets.

The world didn't see the threat, the world slept through the revival of Nazism – at 5 a.m. on February 24, 2022. And today, everyone who remembers World War II and has survived to this day is experiencing déjà vu. The Battle of Kyiv, bombing of Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, mass graves, blockade of ports, plundering and seizure of grain, tortures, executions, deportation of children, filtration camps, and colonies for captives. Russia has brought pages from textbooks about World War II back into the headlines of the world's media. Russia has brought the terrible past back into the daily news, proving with each new crime that Nazism has revived. Just this time it has a new label: “Made in Russia.”

Recently, our society was moved by a photo of a man at the grave of his grandson who died at war. The father of this man was killed by the Nazis. His grandson's life was taken by the Russian occupiers. This is just one of the millions of examples that put the sign of equality between Nazism and modern Russia.

Today, Hitler's ideas are voiced in Russian. Nazi crimes are committed under the Russian flag. The difference is merely formal. The new Wehrmacht that invaded Ukraine wears a double-headed eagle on its sleeves. Kalibrs and Kinzhals are the new V-weapons, MiGs and Su-aircrafts are the new Luftwaffe, a Z symbol is the new swastika, and Yunarmiya is the new Hitlerjugend. There are dozens of similar parallels and hundreds of similar emulations.

And if the modern Kremlin resembles the Third Reich in everything, its end should be identical, taking place in the new Nuremberg – in the city of The Hague.

And like in 1945 this can only be ensured by a united free world, the world united in Anti-Putin Coalition, the world that can stop Moscow Nazis through actions, not words, and prevent the new evil from spreading to the entire European continent and, subsequently, to the entire world, the world capable of helping Ukraine defeat Russian Nazism, helping itself, and proving its commitment to the words “Never again!”, so that “Never again!” becomes relevant again.

Dear Ukrainians!

The residents of the village of Yahidne were held here for 27 days. On March 30, 2022, the village was liberated from the ruscist invaders. On April 19, it was demined by our military forces. This symbolizes that history is repeating itself, and everyone who came to destroy us will eventually have to flee from Ukrainian land. A part of our territory is still occupied, and some of our people are held in captivity, which means that our battle continues. And today, on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism, as we commemorate the millions of Ukrainians who fought and gained victory together with other nations, we keep believing and we bring a new day of a new victory closer.

When the expulsion of the Nazis from Ukraine, we read about in the history textbooks, will happen in real life. And the event of the mid-twentieth century will be repeated and become part of the history of the 21st century, the history of our joint victory over Russian evil.

Greetings on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II! 

Glory to Ukraine!

[ragemovement]

Popular Front - Russia's Anti-Putin Underground

Short doc, on the anarchist-communist combat organization (BOAK) who are carrying out attacks on war infrastructure inside Russia

[musicblogwales]

Small Miracles - 'ExtraTerrestrial' Feat. Mirari

Following on from their very well recieved 'Mercury' single in May, Cardiff New Wave band 'Small Miracles' release brand new 'Extra Terrestrial' single on the 27th July Via Dirty Carrot Records. Small Miracles are a dynamic quintet from Cardiff, Wales. Inspired by the early New Wave movement, they infuse elements of Punk, Blues and Grunge into their genre-bending sound. Their music has a distinctly queer, underground feel, finely balancing heavy grooves and breakdowns with catchy hooks and choruses. The band were honoured to recieve support for last single 'Mercury' by Deb Grant BBC Radio 6 Music, Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales, Treblezine, Circuit Sweet, Edge Of Arcady, No New Wave No Fun, Amplify The Noise. The band describe 'Extra Terrestrial'..... ExtraTerrestrial is a protest song and a condemnation of war, initially written in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. As the lyric developed it became clear that Putin couldn't be criticised without acknowledging the damaging consequences of Western interventionism in the Middle East, and this became the crux of the song.

It is an attack on the British and American governments which have waged war on the Middle East for decades and the deceptive colonisation of capital which accompanies this warfare. This is mirrored in the track with jarring samples, a screeching guitar solo and Mirari's defiant verse. The crossover of punk rock and rap is, in itself, both anti-establishment and an act of resistance, and this is the energy of ExtraTerrestrial.

'Small Miracles' Feat Mirari lastest single 'Extra Terrestrial' will be released on the Thursday 27th of July via Dirty Carrot Records.

Buy / Stream 'Extraterrestrial Here

https://song.link/gb/i/1695908375

[betshy]

The Anti-Putin Resistance: Inside Russia's Underground Anti-Regime Movement

In recent years, Russia has been under the tight grip of President Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime. Many Russians claim that dissent and opposition are routinely silenced, and any form of criticism is met with severe repercussions. However, despite the ever-present threat of government crackdown, there is a growing underground movement of anti-Putin activists and intellectuals who are working tirelessly to resist the oppressive regime. These individuals operate in the shadows, sharing information, organising protests, and speaking out against Putin's authoritarian rule. One such group is the "Open Russia" movement, which was founded by exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The group aims to promote democracy and human rights in Russia, and its members face constant harassment and intimidation from the authorities. The underground resistance movement is not limited to political activists; artists, musicians, and journalists are also using their platforms to speak out against Putin's regime. Pussy Riot, a feminist punk rock protest group, gained international attention in 2012 when they staged a performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, denouncing the close ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and Putin's government. https://youtu.be/gjI0KYl9gWs?si=V58XYMbQjG2-6K42 In addition to activism, the underground resistance in Russia also extends to the realm of journalism. Independent media outlets such as Meduza and The Bell provide a platform for critical and investigative journalism, despite facing constant threats of censorship and harassment. The anti-Putin underground in Russia is a beacon of hope in the face of oppression and suppression. These brave individuals continue to fight for freedom, democracy, and human rights, despite the risks and dangers they face. The world must stand in solidarity with these courageous activists and support their efforts to bring about positive change in Russia. Putin's grip on power may be strong, but the voices of the underground resistance are even stronger. Read the full article

[gryficowa]

I love how anti-Russian people use Russia's past to spread hatred towards Russians and anyone who looks at Russians even slightly positively (Because many of them are LGBT+ and is anti-Putin) is suddenly considered "Spreading propaganda about the good Russian"

Information for you: According to this logic, Ukraine is also bad, because Ukrainians, before they gained the land, were bad people and raped Polish women, yes, you heard right, this is the history of Ukrainians, and does it mean that what Putin is doing is fucking good? No it doesn't and it shouldn't fucking matter because these Ukrainians who are alive today are not the Ukrainians who raped Polish women, you fuckers

Seriously, Ukrainians did a lot of bad things to Poles, which you want to erase to show that all Russians are bad because "Their history shows them as evil"

"Even before the outbreak of the German-Soviet war, both Polish and Ukrainian political and military organizations operated in Volhynia. They were in sharp conflict with each other. After June 1941, quite a large part of the Ukrainian political circles in Volhynia decided to cooperate with the Germans - to such an extent that that Ukrainians constitute the main part of the auxiliary police forces in this area. They participate in carrying out the Holocaust of Jews and take part in the pacification of villages - both Polish and Ukrainian"

"As the months of the war pass, the tension in Polish-Ukrainian relations systematically increases. In 1942, we are dealing with increasingly frequent physical attacks on the Polish population - both the intelligentsia and the peasant population. In the fall of 1942, about six thousand Ukrainians leave the German auxiliary forces and join the underground, which causes a new, very important military and political factor to appear in Volhynia. The structures of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army are being formed, which remains in a very close alliance or is simply politically subordinated to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, a splinter group led by Stepan Bandera. Poles decide to enter the place abandoned by Ukrainians. This is done in consultation with the structures of the Polish Underground State and not to help the Germans, but to create an opportunity to defend against attacks from those Ukrainians who went underground. Ukrainian political groups, but also part of the Ukrainian population, view the takeover by Poles of functions previously performed by Ukrainians as extremely negative"

You see right, Ukrainians hurt Poles, so according to this logic you should hate them…

The history of Ukraine is quite bloody (And that's probably why Zionists think that Poles collaborated with the Nazis, so eh…)

So should I be anti-Ukraine because evil ancestors hurt Poles? No, there's something wrong with your head

What Putin is doing is inexcusable, but I blame Putin because he is a shitty person

This turned out to be a series of posts, so you see…

But I can't hate someone for their country of origin or ethnicity, I hate people for supporting genocide, or I mention the problem (I compared Russians and Israelis in previous posts because I noticed a key difference that is ignored, which is trust in your government, so yeah...)

I don't like Russia and Putin, but that doesn't mean I have to hate Russians, because many Russians are wonderful people, just like Jews who are hated by Zionists and some pseudo-pro-Palestinians (Mainly with right-wing views…), let's stop judging people for their origin and ethnicity, and for what kind of people they are

[gorky-gorod]

At the May 9 parade, #Putin was surrounded by veterans of the Soviet secret services who had not fought against the Nazis. At the right hand of the dictator sat NKVD veteran Yuri Dvoikin, who suppressed the anti-Soviet underground in #Ukraine. On the left is Gennady Zaitsev, a… https://t.co/NNrakgh7lS

https://t.co/NNrakgh7lS

[mariacallous]

EARLY VOTING in Mariupol began on March 10th, courtesy of armed election brigades who criss-crossed the city in search of participants. Sometimes, mobile ballot boxes were unveiled to the sounds of rousing hits such as Sergei Voitenko’s “My Russia” (Russia! Russia! My Russia! / Great country! Motherland!). Other times, guns did the talking. Those preferring to wait until the official start had a harder job. The locations of polling booths were not advertised ahead of the vote—a provision, officials explained, designed to ensure the safety of organisers. By the time polls closed on the evening of March 15th, the first of the three official ballot days, a stratospheric 69% of the region had already voted. This was all the more remarkable given the absence of accurate voting lists to calculate the number from.

The vote in Mariupol could be written off as a farce, were it not for everything that went before it. The second day of voting came exactly two years after Russian planes dropped bombs on the city’s main theatre while a large number of children were taking shelter inside, killing hundreds of them. Local authorities estimate that at least 22,000 civilians were killed in the city during weeks of bombardment. It may be considerably more. Only 120,000 of a pre-war population of 450,000 remain in Mariupol, plus a similar number of new migrants from Russia and central Asia.

Local sources, whose identities we are withholding for their protection, report that Mariupol has been unusually deserted over the days of the vote. The city still bears obvious war scars, they say. Central streets alternate between ruins and, where houses have been cleared, empty pits. Only collaborators who have proven their worth to the occupying Russian forces have been given homes in the few new-builds, hastily constructed for the cameras on the edge of the city. Access to the city is still tightly controlled, with checkpoints on the roads in and out. Anyone wanting to enter has to get permission at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, 1,000 km away.

The Kremlin has been nonetheless keen for Mariupol to display loyalty. One of the very first acts of the occupying forces—even before the theatre was filled in with concrete in an attempt to contain the stench of rotting corpses—was to wheel in massive video screens showing Vladimir Putin. “They hadn’t even opened the shops or the market, or the hospitals, but they had the big propaganda screens,” one local said. In the run-up to the presidential elections, there was a campaign to encourage locals to take up Russian passports. Its lack of success was perhaps most clearly shown in the decision in December 2023 to allow people to vote using their Ukrainian IDs, a rare example of a state allowing nationals of another one to take part in a presidential election. It is one of many avenues for voting fraud, suggests Mariupol’s elected mayor Vadym Boychenko, now based in Ukrainian-controlled Dnipro.

Solomiia Bobrovska, a member of Ukraine’s parliamentary intelligence committee closely connected to resistance movements, says that Mariupol remains a partisan hotbed. “That’s why they are so strict about the city. They don’t trust locals with anything important.”

The resistance effort can broadly be split between military and civilian wings. Partisan and diversionary activity in the former category is overseen by agencies like the SSO, Ukraine’s special forces, and HUR, its military intelligence agency. The SBU, the domestic intelligence outift, leads on civilian resistance.

Alongside this are other more independent activist groups, like Yellow Ribbon, which says it has 15,000 activists across Ukraine’s occupied territories. The resistance is mostly low-level: printing anti-Putin posters and organising underground Ukrainian flag production. Its social-media channel offers suggestions about how to avoid voting and share information about election organisers with prosecutors. “It’s about giving people support, to show they are not alone,” says “Alex”, a co-founder of the movement. “Our aim is to irritate the hell out of the Kremlin.”

Civil and military representatives are hesitant to discuss the extent of their networks, but it’s clear that their work has become much more difficult since the early days of the war. Many agents have been compromised, hauled off to prison in the best case scenarios. Russia has dispatched tens of thousands of security officers to the occupied territories. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, also in exile, admits the resistance was “losing too many people,” and suggests Ukraine should become more careful. He suggests encouraging locals to vote unless it was safe not to do so; a boycott was unlikely to change anything and could attract dangerous attention, he says. “The Mariupol resistance is different to everywhere else given our history and the level of control. At this stage we need to think about keeping people alive. They are our stake.”

The Ukrainian government, perhaps surprisingly, has not produced a unified position on what its citizens should do: take part in the electoral farce to avoid reprisals, or ignore it. That is partly down to disagreement inside the corridors of power. But it is really because officials find it hard to admit that the liberation of Mariupol now looks remote. For Mr Boychenko, the exiled mayor, who has been criticised for his decision to leave his city in the early days of the war, the focus should be on helping the 200,000 or so survivors now scattered across Ukraine. “We are an evacuated city, a people in exile. But we haven’t disappeared.”

[kramlabs]

“The technology race between naval surface ships and anti-ship missiles is a serious problem just as the race between tanks and anti-tank missiles.”

https://theweek.com/us/1012684/the-sinking-of-russias-flagship-might-be-a-bad-sign-for-the-us-navy

…

https://www.rt.com/russia/554321-lira-blogger-ukraine-released/

:::

https://www.unz.com/aanglin/putin-tells-military-not-to-storm-azovstal-underground-city-says-to-seal-it-and-starve-them-out/

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/04/20/war-in-ukraine-could-be-the-mother-of-all-energy-wars-but-the-media-still-misses-the-context/

https://www.businessinsider.com/2-russian-oligarchs-found-dead-spain-moscow-reports-2022-4

https://youtu.be/vrMJoRDfRFI

[sepdet]

To put it another way which I don't think is emphasized enough: Putin's tactics are war crimes. He's not so much fighting to win a war now; he's just killing as many civilians as possible and destroying as much of Ukraine's non-military infrastructure as he can. He's used up almost Russia's entire arsenal of weapons of war, meant to be aimed at battleships, fighter planes, and tanks, and turned them against city monuments, apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, museums, synagogues, holocaust memorials (one of the first things he targeted, incidentally) mosques, and churches.

Why the hell has he exhausted his country's supply of cruise missiles killing civilians of another country that was not at war with and had absolutely no quarrel with Russia until he invaded and tried to conquer and/or destroy them? Quite apart from the war crimes, does this make any strategic sense to deplete his military like this, so he's now having to buy drones from Iran and missiles from North Korea to keep the war going!? I think he's lost it.

I repeat: it is a war crime for militaries to use their weapons against noncombatants. Yes, the U.S. does it, claiming collateral damage; that does not excuse it.

The only time countries engaged in "total war," resorting to targeting towns and civilians to terrorize opponents into submission, was in World War II, and it was considered an escalation as horrible as poison gas in WWI. It started with the Blitz. Later the Allies retaliated to force Germany to surrender; the firebombing of Dresden remains controversial to this day. And I'm sure you've read the mealy-mouthed justifications for Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which any anti-war person should find... dubious.

Bombing cities is not normal. Why is the news media letting it be normalized?

And all those bombings happened between countries that had declared war on each other and had militaries fighting each other. At the time, leaders had convinced themselves those horrible, strategic bombings would force a quick end to the conflict.

That's not what Putin's doing. His attempts to pulverize Ukraine are unprovoked, and he's spent months and months levelling different places with no obvious war aims. Maybe he's trying to terrorize Ukraine into surrendering, but it hasn't worked in almost a year, and Ukrainians like Londoners in the Blitz have found ways to survive underground.

On top of the mass bombing, the torture of civilians and the kidnapping of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children to be raised as Russians, there's the mass landmining of Ukraine. When Putin's forces retreat, they take the time to sow thousands of mines, outlawed internationally in the 90s because they primarily kill civilians. Ukrainians are spending vast amounts of time, resources — and some civilian lives — de-mining their country, Farmers' fields. Houses. Streets. Bodies of the dead which blow up when people try to bury them. And the really nasty trick of burying mines with colored ribbons tempting to children.

Go find out what's been happening in Ukraine. The Ukrainians are pretty damn anti-war as well... they want this to be over. But they refuse to surrender, because they love their country, and they don't want to live or die under Russian occupation. Nor do we really want Putin to find out that if he attacks his smaller neighbors, nobody will stop him.

I’m really tired of seeing people claim they’re anti-war, and then say they oppose countries giving military aid to Ukraine. (I’m honestly starting to think people who say this are Putin sympathizers.) I really don’t know why I should have to spell this out, but Ukraine has the right to defend itself. This war was completely unprovoked, and not only is it killing Ukrainians every day, Putin is also threatening Ukraine with loss of statehood. If Putin takes control of the country, the result will be catastrophic. Ukrainians are fighting to prevent that from happening. They needs weapons in order to defend their sovereignty and their people, and acknowledging that is not a pro-war stance. If you’re anti-war, you should support giving weapons to Ukraine so that it can continue to be free, and so that it can continue to exist at all. One protester’s sign summed it up well: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.”

[atlanticcanada]

Russian troops press on Kyiv; Ukraine president to fight on

Russian troops pressed toward Ukraine’s capital Saturday, after a night of explosions and street fighting that sent Kyiv residents seeking shelter underground. The country’s president refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting that he would stay. “The fight is here,” he said.

It was not immediately clear how far Russian troops had advanced. Ukrainian officials reported some success in fending off assaults, but fighting persisted near the capital. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defenses to clear a path for the main forces.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitchsko said a missile hit a high-rise building on the city’s southwestern outskirts. He posted an image showing a gaping hold in one side of the building that ravaged apartments on several floors. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The swift movement of the troops after less than three days of fighting further imperiled a country clinging to independence in the face of a broad Russian assault, which threatened to topple Ukraine’s democratic government and scramble the post-Cold War world order.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered renewed assurance Saturday that the country’s military would stand up to the Russian invasion. In a video recorded on a downtown Kyiv street, he said he remained in the city and that claims the Ukrainian military would put down arms were false.

“We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” the Ukrainian president said. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.”

U.S. officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own. The invasion represented Putin’s boldest effort yet to redraw the map of Europe and revive Moscow’s Cold War-era influence. It triggered new international efforts to end the invasion, including direct sanctions on Putin.

The Kremlin accepted Kyiv’s offer to hold talks, but it appeared to be an effort to squeeze concessions out of the embattled Zelenskyy instead of a gesture toward a diplomatic solution.

The U.S. government urged Zelenskyy early Saturday to evacuate Kyiv but he turned down the offer, according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation. The official quoted the president as saying that “the fight is here” and that he needed anti-tank ammunition but “not a ride.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Saturday’s street clashes followed two days of massive air and missile strikes that Russian officials said targeted Ukrainian military facilities as their ground troops moved in from the north, east and south. The assault pummeled bridges, schools and apartment buildings, and resulted in hundreds of casualties.

Ukraine’s health minister reported Saturday that 198 people have been killed and more than 1,000 others have been wounded since the Russian offensive started before dawn Thursday with massive air and missile strikes and troops forging into Ukraine from the north, east and south.

Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said the death toll included included three children. His statement did not make clear whether the total figure included both military and civilians.

City officials in Kyiv urged residents to seek shelter, to stay away from windows and to take precautions to avoid flying debris or bullets. Many spent the night in basements, underground parking garages and subway stations.

“We’re all scared and worried. We don’t know what to do then, what’s going to happen in a few days,” said Lucy Vashaka, 20, a worker at a small Kyiv hotel.

But Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukrainian forces controlled the situation when the small Russian units tried to infiltrate Kyiv. A British official, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey, said fighting in the capital was so far confined to “very isolated pockets of Russian special forces and paratroopers” and that “the main armored columns approaching Kyiv are still some way off.”

Russia’s defense ministry claimed the Russian military had taken full control of the southern city of Melitopol, about 22 miles (35 kilometer)s inland from the Azov Sea coast.

It was unclear in the fog of war how much of Ukraine was still under Ukrainian control and how much Russian forces have seized. U.N. officials said millions of residents could flee Ukraine for neighboring countries in the West.

The United States and other global powers moved to freeze the assets of Putin and his foreign minister Friday as part of tougher sanctions on Russia as the invasion reverberated through the world’s economy and energy supplies.

Sports leagues also sought to punish Russia, and the popular Eurovision song contest banned Russian acts from the event’s May finals in Italy.

Russia remained unbowed, vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that it stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw troops immediately. The veto was expected, but the U.S. and its supporters argued that the effort would highlight Moscow’s international isolation.

The 11-1 vote, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, showed significant opposition to Russia’s invasion of its smaller, militarily weaker neighbor.

NATO, meanwhile, decided to send parts of the alliance’s response force to help protect member nations in the east for the first time. NATO did not say how many troops would be deployed but added that it would involve land, sea and air power.

It was unclear how many people overall had died in the largest ground war in Europe since World War II.

Ukrainian officials claimed hundreds of Russians have died in the first days of fighting. Russian authorities released no casualty figures.

U.N. officials reported 25 civilian deaths, mostly from shelling and airstrikes, and said more than 120,000 Ukrainians have left the country for Poland, Moldova and other neighboring nations. The U.N. estimates that up to 4 million could flee if the fighting escalates.

Late Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a memo authorizing up to $350 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total security aid approved for Ukraine to $1 billion over the past year. It was not clear how quickly the aid would flow.

The assault was anticipated for weeks by the U.S. and Western allies and denied to be in the works just as long by Putin. He argued that the West left him with no other choice by refusing to negotiate Russia’s security demands.

Putin has not disclosed his ultimate plans for Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a hint, saying, “We want to allow the Ukrainian people to determine its own fate.” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia recognizes Zelenskyy as the president, but would not say how long the Russian military operation could last.

Zelenskyy’s whereabouts were kept secret after he told European leaders in a call Thursday that he was Russia’s No. 1 target — and that they might not see him again alive. His office later released a video of him standing with senior aides outside the presidential office and saying that he and other government officials would stay in the capital.

Zelenskyy offered Friday to negotiate on a key Putin demand: that Ukraine declare itself neutral and abandon its ambition of joining NATO. The Kremlin said Kyiv initially agreed to have talks in Minsk, then said it preferred Warsaw and later halted communications.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. LaPorta reported from Boca Raton, Florida. Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Jill Lawless in London; Angela Charlton in Paris; Geir Moulson and Frank Jordans in Berlin; Raf Casert and Lorne Cook in Brussels; Nic Dumitrache in Mariupol, Ukraine; Matt Sedensky in New York; Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations; and Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Eric Tucker, Nomaan Merchant, Ellen Knickmeyer, Zeke Miller, Chris Megerian and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/ql5zPLA

[unsafepin]

We Appreciate Power by Grimes, Artificial Intelligence and Propaganda

“We Appreciate Power'' is a 2018 single by Vancouver art-pop musician Grimes, featuring American singer HANA. “We Appreciate Power”, in Grimes’ words, explores the idea of a pro-artificial intelligence propaganda girl group that seeks to normalize and popularize the idea of AI overlords. It highlighted the 21st century obsession with future capabilities of AI and the anxieties concerning it, but the impact of “We Appreciate Power” lie not only in the public interest of AI, but in the centuries-old twisted fascination with propaganda, trust in a system of power, and the overwhelming need to be on the right side of history.

The overt theme in “We Appreciate Power” is that in the future AI will become advanced beyond human understanding and will come to rule humanity, as becomes immediately apparent in verse two - “People like to say that we're insane / But AI will reward us when it reigns / Pledge allegiance to the world's most powerful computer / Simulation: it's the future”. It also becomes very clear that the message Grimes is trying to send with the song is that humanity should not resist and instead “pledge allegiance” to protect themselves against destruction by the hands of the AI, an idea rooted in a thought experiment labeled Roko’s Basilisk, originating from LessWrong forums in 2010.

Roko’s Basilisk is an incredibly complex concept, exploring theoretical capabilities of an omniscient, omnipotent AI and is, speaking frankly, existentially terrifying. It is fascinating that Grimes chooses to explore the state of society just on the brink of such an AI being developed.

Propaganda in pop music is not a novel concept, neither in a satirical nor earnest context. A catchy, cheesy Russian hit “A Man Like Putin” (Такого как путин) expresses the desire to have a lover like the Russian authoritarian leader - strong, dependable. It’s almost laughable in its honesty, I personally did not know propaganda this obvious still exists. However, the authoritarian state Russia has become under Vladimir Putin would not exist without his pervasive cult of personality, so perhaps it's only natural such a song can exist in an non-ironic fashion. In stark contrast, Pussy Riot’s song “Track About A Good Cop” uses almost identical language to “A Man Like Putin” in its chorus, but its tone and verses make it clear it is challenging the police state of Russia.

So with the themes of Grimes’ work, built on the premise of cultural anxiety around quickly developing AI and the tradition to satirize grim scenarios, it is fascinating she’s in a relationship with Elon Musk. Musk needs no introduction and the whole world was as perplexed as I was when they announced they’re a couple. I started writing this essay before this information surfaced and this changes its whole course.

In a capitalist society, charismatic innovators and CEOs took over the role of kings and leaders in being publicly revered icons, whose opinion is gospel and ideas are always marvelous. The millionaire, despite expressing concern over the development of DeepMind AI, wants to greenlight (anti)utopian projects like NeuraLink, which would, in his word’s, help achieve “superhuman cognition”. Musk and his numerous companies certainly proved to have ambitious projects, although the engineers and regular workers behind Musk’s brand seems to remain hidden behind his cult of personality amongst STEM types. Flashy scientific developments push the fact that Musk illegally discouraged his Tesla employees from unionizing out of the news cycle. So every driverless car, brain chip, underground tunnel announcement serves as a type of propaganda - it creates the image of an eccentric innovator and erases one of a self-interested CEO.

So is it really an insightful satirical statement when Grimes sings “What will it take to make you capitulate? / We appreciate power / We appreciate power / When will the state agree to cooperate?” when her significant other is violating worker laws whilst constructing technology that can alter the human mind? “We Appreciate Power” as a work in a vacuum stands as a critique of pop-culture propaganda, but as soon as you remove it from its air-tight chamber it can liberally be interpreted to be as earnest as “A Man Like Putin”.

Penelope Scott’s breakout hit “Rät” (Its original name being “Elongated Muskrat”, a joke on Elon Musk’s name) is written precisely about this experience of becoming disillusioned with the futuristic promises of tech companies. She, unlike Grimes, takes a completely earnest approach to criticism so it cannot be misread as anything but damning of how technology develops at the cost of human decency. “When I said take me to the moon, I never meant take me alone / I thought if mankind toured the sky, it meant that all of us could go / But I don't want to see the stars if they're just one more piece of land / For us to colonize, for us to turn to sand” perfectly encapsulates the feeling of sudden clarity that the world tech magnates such as Musk offer us is a dystopia, rather than utopia.

History is written by the victors. And as the 21st century audaciously marches forward, Grimes’ “We Appreciate Power”, with its ironic intention removed, can very soon be read as being one of the artistic works being on the ‘right’ side of it

[evilelitest2]

Why is the far right so strong in Hungary?

Long and complicate story but here are the short park notes 

1) Between 1945-1991, Hungary was basically occupied by the Soviet Union, and like many post Soviet Countries, this lead to a fierce anti communist backlash which basically deligitmizes even more reasonable leftist positions 

2) Ironically, most of the Post Soviet nations didn’t even have the pretense of denazification, so a lot of the Right Wing attitudes and in some cases the literal parties that were around when hungary was an Axis country just went underground during the Soviet Era and then came right back

3) Hungary is a fiercely nationalistic nation, even by the standards of Central/Eastern Europe.  Partly this is because of their long history of being occupied by other nations, and partly because Hungarian is such a unique language and culture compared to everybody else in Europe but there is a long nationalist tradition in Hungary, and with it comes Nationalism favorite friends, Antisemitism and Islamophobia.  Protecting Hungarian Culture is a big buzzword there

4) Its a very Catholic and very conservative country generally

5) The more liberal goverment was involved in some bad economic decisions that mean that Hungary was really badly hurt by the 2008 financial Crash, which delegitmized them in the eyes of the population, allowing the Far Right to seize power

6) Once Orbain did take power, he basically rewrote the constitution so that no other party can easily compete with him, so there is a lot of cheating and corruption involved.  He has also taken over almost all of the domestic news channels, newspapers and radio stations, meaning that he controls most of the news, giving him a huge advantage.  

7) Putin gives money to Far Right groups in Hungary   Ignore this message its made up by communists 

8) A little over a million Hungarians have left the country since Orbain took power, most of  them younger and women, meaning that most of those left behind are older and more conservative. 

9) Finally Orbain basically gave voting rights to ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvanian, which is...oh god the Transylvanian issue

Ok, so Hungary used to be twice its current size, what was called “Greater Hungary” which included all of Modern Day Hungary, as well as the nation of Slovakia, Parts of Croatia, and most critically, the Western Province of Romania Transylvania.  Traditionally Transylvania was one of the major Hungarian cultural centers, but it was always a Hungarian Minority ruling over a Romanian Minority, which embittered Romania.  After WWI, in 1919 Hungary had to give up half its territory, with Translation going to Romania who had fought for the allies.  This meant that there was a large Hungarian minority in Romania who weren’t treated very well by the equally nationalistic Romanian goverment.  Hungarian super nationalist have always wanted to bring back Transylvania, but in the meantime, Orbain gave Hungarians living there the right to vote.  And since the minority living there don’t care about the domestic situation inside Hungary but only about Hungarian nationalism, they always vote for the Far Right, meaning that its an artificial boost to the Rights power base. 

Hungary is just one of those places in Europe who has a long history of nationalism, antisemitism, and traditionalism, so its a natural resting ground.  About 30% of Hungary are center or Left wing, and respect them for having to put up with this shit. 

[tunesrecords]

Russian Invasion Slows in the Face of Fierce Ukrainian Resistance

(KYIV, Ukraine) — Russia unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine targeting airfields and fuel facilities in what appeared to be the next phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance. The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and powerful sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow.

Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.

Flames billowed into the sky before dawn from an oil depot near an air base in Vasylkiv, where there has been intense fighting, according to the town’s mayor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said another explosion was at the civilian Zhuliany airport. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Zelenskyy’s office also said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, prompting the government to warn people to protect themselves from the smoke by covering their windows with damp cloth or gauze.

“We will fight for as long as needed to liberate our country,” Zelenskyy vowed.

Vadim Ghirda–APPeople lie on mattresses in the underground parking lot of a hotel that has been turned into a bomb shelter during an air raid alert in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. Terrified men, women and children sought safety inside and underground, and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew to keep people off the streets as more than 150,000 Ukrainians fled to neighboring countries and the United Nations warned the number could grow to 4 million if fighting escalates.

Terrified men, women and children sought safety inside and underground, and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew to keep people off the streets. More than 150,000 Ukrainians fled for Poland, Moldova and other neighboring countries, and the United Nations warned the number could grow to 4 million if fighting escalates.

President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.

To aid Ukraine’s ability to hold out, the U.S. pledged an additional $350 million in military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, body armor and small arms. Germany said it would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged country and that it would close its airspace to Russian planes.

The U.S., European Union and United Kingdom agreed to block “selected” Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging system, which moves money around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions worldwide, part of a new round of sanctions aiming to impose a severe cost on Moscow for the invasion. They also agreed to impose ”restrictive measures” on Russia’s central bank.

Responding to a request from Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Twitter his satellite-based internet system Starlink was now active in Ukraine and that there were “more terminals en route.”

It was unclear how much territory Russian forces had seized or to what extent their advance had been stalled. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said “the speed of the Russian advance has temporarily slowed likely as a result of acute logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance.”

A senior U.S. defense official said more than half the Russian combat power that was massed along Ukraine’s borders had entered the country and Moscow has had to commit more fuel supply and other support units inside Ukraine than originally anticipated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal U.S. assessments.

Marcus Yam–Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesA residential building in Kyiv is seen with a massive hole on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022 after it was hit by a rocket during the siege of the Ukrainian capital by Russian forces.

The curfew forcing everyone in Kyiv inside was set to last through Monday morning. The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically broken by gunfire.

Fighting on the city’s outskirts suggested that small Russian units were trying to clear a path for the main forces. Small groups of Russian troops were reported inside Kyiv, but Britain and the U.S. said the bulk of the forces were 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the city’s center as of Saturday afternoon.

Russia claims its assault on Ukraine from the north, east and south is aimed only at military targets, but bridges, schools and residential neighborhoods have been hit.

Ukraine’s health minister reported Saturday that 198 people, including three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded during Europe’s largest land war since World War II. It was unclear whether those figures included both military and civilian casualties.

A missile struck a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv’s southwestern outskirts near one of the city’s two passenger airports, leaving a jagged hole of ravaged apartments over several floors. A rescue worker said six civilians were injured.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said troops in Kyiv were fighting Russian “sabotage groups.” Ukraine says some 200 Russian soldiers have been captured and thousands killed.

Markarova said Ukraine was gathering evidence of shelling of residential areas, kindergartens and hospitals to submit to The Hague as possible crimes against humanity.

Zelenskyy reiterated his openness to talks with Russia in a video message, saying he welcomed an offer from Turkey and Azerbaijan to organize diplomatic efforts, which so far have faltered.

The Kremlin confirmed a phone call between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev but gave no hint of restarting talks. A day earlier, Zelenskyy offered to negotiate a key Russian demand: abandoning ambitions of joining NATO.

Putin sent troops into Ukraine after denying for weeks that he intended to do so, all the while building up a force of almost 200,000 troops along the countries’ borders. He claims the West has failed to take seriously Russia’s security concerns about NATO, the Western military alliance that Ukraine aspires to join. But he has also expressed scorn about Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent state.

The effort was already coming at great cost to Ukraine, and apparently to Russian forces as well.

Ukrainian artillery fire destroyed a Russian train delivering diesel to troops heading toward Kyiv from the east, said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister.

The country’s Infrastructure Ministry said a Russian missile was shot down early Saturday as it headed for the dam of the sprawling reservoir that serves Kyiv. The government also said a Russian convoy was destroyed. Video images showed soldiers inspecting burned-out vehicles after Ukraine’s 101st brigade reported destroying a column of two light vehicles, two trucks and a tank. The claim could not be verified.

Highways into Kyiv from the east were dotted with checkpoints manned by Ukrainian troops and young men in civilian clothes carrying automatic rifles. Low-flying planes patrolled the skies, though it was unclear if they were Russian or Ukrainian.

In addition to Kyiv, the Russian assault appeared to focus on Ukraine’s economically vital coastal areas, from near the Black Sea port of Odesa in the west to beyond the Azov Sea port of Mariupol in the east.

Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol guarded bridges and blocked people from the shoreline amid concerns the Russian navy could launch an assault from the sea.

“I don’t care anymore who wins and who doesn’t,” said Ruzanna Zubenko, whose large family was forced from their home outside Mariupol after it was badly damaged by shelling. “The only important thing is for our children to be able to grow up smiling and not crying.”

Fighting also raged in two eastern territories controlled by pro-Russia separatists. Authorities in Donetsk said hot water supplies to the city of about 900,000 were suspended because of damage to the system by Ukrainian shelling.

The U.S. government urged Zelenskyy early Saturday to evacuate Kyiv but he turned down the offer, according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation. Zelenskyy issued a defiant video recorded on a downtown street, saying he remained in the city.

“We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” he said. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.”

Hungary and Poland both opened their borders to Ukrainians.

Refugees arriving in the Hungarian border town of Zahony said men between the ages of 18 and 60 were not being allowed to leave Ukraine.

“My son was not allowed to come. My heart is so sore, I’m shaking,” said Vilma Sugar, 68.

At Poland’s Medyka crossing, some said they had walked for 15 miles (35 kilometers) to reach the border.

“They didn’t have food, no tea, they were standing in the middle of a field, on the road, kids were freezing,” Iryna Wiklenko said as she waited on the Polish side for her grandchildren and daughter-in-law to make it across.

Officials in Kyiv urged residents to stay away from windows to avoid debris or bullets.

Shelves were sparsely stocked at grocery stores and pharmacies, and people worried how long food and medicine supplies might last.

The U.S. and its allies have beefed up forces on NATO’s eastern flank but so far have ruled out deploying troops to fight Russia. Instead, the U.S., the European Union and other countries have slapped wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, freezing the assets of businesses and individuals including Putin and his foreign minister.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, warned that Moscow could react by opting out of the last remaining nuclear arms pact, freezing Western assets and cutting diplomatic ties.

“There is no particular need in maintaining diplomatic relations,” Medvedev said. “We may look at each other in binoculars and gunsights.”

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow, and Miller from Washington. Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Mstyslav Chernov and Nic Dumitrache in Mariupol, Ukraine; and other AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

source https://time.com/6151861/russia-invasion-slows-ukraine/

Trenz On

source https://emptunes.blogspot.com/2022/02/russian-invasion-slows-in-face-of.html

[orbemnews]

Russia is amassing unprecedented military might in the Arctic Weapons experts and Western officials have expressed particular concern about one Russian ‘super-weapon,’ the Poseidon 2M39 torpedo. Development of the torpedo is moving fast with Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting an update on a “key stage” of the tests in February from his defense minister Sergei Shoigu, with further tests planned this year, according to multiple reports in state media. The device is intended to deliver a warhead of multiple megatons, according to Russian officials, causing radioactive waves that would render swathes of the target coastline uninhabitable for decades. In November, Christopher A Ford, then assistant secretary of state for International Security and Non-Proliferation, said the Poseidon is designed to “inundate U.S. coastal cities with radioactive tsunamis.” An “onyx” anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Northern Fleet in Alexandra Land, near an Arctic “trefoil” base. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense Experts agree that the weapon is “very real” and already coming to fruition. The head of Norwegian intelligence, Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensønes, told CNN that his agency has assessed the Poseidon as “part of the new type of nuclear deterrent weapons. And it is in a testing phase. But it’s a strategic system and it’s aimed at targets … and has an influence far beyond the region in which they test it currently.” Stensønes declined to give details on the torpedo’s testing progress so far. Satellite images provided to CNN by space technology company Maxar detail a stark and continuous build-up of Russian military bases and hardware on the country’s Arctic coastline, together with underground storage facilities likely for the Poseidon and other new high-tech weapons. The Russian hardware in the High North area includes bombers and MiG31BM jets, and new radar systems close to the coast of Alaska. The Russian build-up has been matched by NATO and US troop and equipment movements. American B-1 Lancer bombers stationed in Norway’s Ørland air base have recently completed missions in the eastern Barents Sea, for example. The US military’s stealth Seawolf submarine was acknowledged by US officials in August as being in the area. A senior State Department official told CNN: “There’s clearly a military challenge from the Russians in the Arctic,” including their refitting of old Cold War bases and build-up of new facilities on the Kola Peninsula near the city of Murmansk. “That has implications for the United States and its allies, not least because it creates the capacity to project power up to the North Atlantic,” the official said. Source: Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Graphic: Henrik Pettersson, CNN The satellite images show the slow and methodical strengthening of airfields and “trefoil” bases — with a shamrock-like design, daubed in the red, white and blue of the Russian flag — at several locations along Russia’s Arctic coast over the past five years. The bases are inside Russian territory and part of a legitimate defense of its borders and coastline. US officials have voiced concern, however, that the forces might be used to establish de facto control over areas of the Arctic that are further afield, and soon to be ice-free. “Russia is refurbishing Soviet-era airfields and radar installations, constructing new ports and search-and-rescue centers, and building up its fleet of nuclear- and conventionally-powered icebreakers,” Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell, a Pentagon spokesman, told CNN. The 50 Let Pobedy (50 years of victory) icebreaker moving through the Arctic ice, said to be in January this year, in a first transit of the eastern seas in deep winter. Credit: Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation “It is also expanding its network of air and coastal defense missile systems, thus strengthening its anti-access and area-denial capabilities over key portions of the Arctic,” he added. Campbell also noted the recent creation of a Quick Reaction Alert force at two Arctic airfields — Rogachevo and Anadyr — and the trial of one at Nagurskoye airfield last year. Satellite imagery from March 16 shows probable MiG31BMs at Nagurskoye for what is thought to be the first time, bringing a new capability of Russian stealth air power to the far north. High-tech weapons are also being regularly tested in the Arctic area, according to Russian officials quoted in state media and Western officials. Campbell added that in November, Russia claimed the successful test of the ‘Tsirkon’ anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile. A Russian army demonstration video of its new ski sled for the Arctic. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense The Tsirkon and the Poseidon are part of a new generation of weapons pledged by Putin in 2018 as strategic game changers in a fast-changing world. At the time US officials scorned the new weapons as technically far-fetched and improbable, yet they appear to be nearing fruition. The Norwegian intelligence chief Stensønes told CNN the Tsirkon as a “new technology, with hypersonic speeds, which makes it hard to defend against.” On Thursday, Russian state news agency TASS cited a source in the military industrial complex as saying there had been another successful test of the Tsirkon from the Admiral Gorshkov warship, saying all four test rockets had hit their target, and that another more advanced level of tests would begin in May or June. The climate emergency has removed many of Russia’s natural defenses to its north, such as walls of sheet ice, at an unanticipated rate. “The melt is moving faster than scientists predicted or thought possible several years ago,” said the senior State Department official. “It’s going to be a dramatic transformation in the decades ahead in terms of physical access.” Source: Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Graphic: Henrik Pettersson, CNN US officials also expressed concern at Moscow’s apparent bid to influence the “Northern Sea Route” — a shipping lane that runs from between Norway and Alaska, along Russia’s northern coast, across to the North Atlantic. The ‘NSR’ potentially halves the time it currently takes shipping containers to reach Europe from Asia via the Suez Canal. Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear company released elaborately produced drone video this February of the ‘Christophe de Margerie’ tanker completing an eastern route across the Arctic in winter for the first time, accompanied by the ’50 Let Pobedy’ nuclear icebreaker for its journey in three of the six Arctic seas. Campbell said Russia sought to exploit the NSR as a “major international shipping lane,” yet voiced concern at the rules Moscow was seeking to impose on vessels using the route. “Russian laws governing NSR transits exceed Russia’s authority under international law,” the Pentagon spokesman said. “They require any vessel transiting the NSR through international waters to have a Russian pilot onboard to guide the vessel. Russia is also attempting to require foreign vessels to obtain permission before entering the NSR.” The senior State Department official added: “The Russian assertions about the Northern Sea Route is most certainly an effort to lay down some rules of the road, get some de facto acquiescence on the part of the international community, and then claim this is the way things are supposed to work.” Elizabeth Buchanan, lecturer of Strategic Studies at Deakin University, Australia, said that “basic geography affords Russia the NSR which is increasingly seeing thinner ice for more of the year making it commercially viable to use as a transport artery. This might yet transform global shipping, and with it the movements of 90+% of all goods globally.” The State Department official believes the Russians are mostly interested in exporting hydrocarbons — essential to the country’s economy — along the route, but also in the resources being uncovered by the fast melt. The flexing of their military muscles in the north — key to Moscow’s nuclear defense strategy, and also mostly on Russian coastal territory — could be a bid to impose their writ on the wider area, the official said. “When the Russians are testing weapons, jamming GPS signals, closing off airspace or sea space for exercises, or flying bombers over the Arctic along the airspace of allies and partners, they are always trying to send a message,” the official added. Among these new weapons is the Poseidon 2M39. The plans for this torpedo were initially revealed in an apparently purposeful brandishing of a document discussing its capabilities by a Russian general in 2015. It was subsequently partially dismissed by analysts as a ‘paper tiger’ weapon, meant to terrify with its apocalyptic destructive powers that appear to slip around current treaty requirements, but not to be successfully deployed. Yet a series of developments in the Arctic, including, according to Russian media reports, the testing of up to three Russian submarines designed to carry the stealth weapon, which has been suggested to be 20 meters long, have now led analysts to consider the project real and active. The Belgorod, a key submarine intended to be armed with the torpedo, will undergo important testing in May, according to a TASS report, although officials in the report stressed that it would not be related to the Poseidon’s development. Russia insists motives are peaceful and economic Russia’s foreign ministry declined to comment, yet Moscow has long maintained its goals in the Arctic are economic and peaceful. A March 2020 document by Kremlin policymakers presented Russia’s key goals in an area behind 20% of its exports and 10% of its GDP. The strategy focuses on ensuring Russia’s territorial integrity and regional peace. It also expresses the need to guarantee high living standards and economic growth in the region, as well as developing a resource base and the NSR as “a globally competitive national transport corridor.” Putin regularly extols the importance of Russia’s technological superiority in the Arctic. In November, during the unveiling of a new icebreaker in St. Petersburg, the Russian President said: “It is well-known that we have a unique icebreaker fleet that holds a leading position in the development and study of Arctic territories. We must reaffirm this superiority constantly, every day.” Putin said of a submarine exercise last week in which three submarines surfaced at the same time in the polar ice: “The Arctic expedition … has no analogues in the Soviet and the modern history of Russia.” Manash Protim Boruah, a submarine expert at Jane’s Fighting Ships, said: “The reality of the weapon is clear. You can absolutely see development around the torpedo, which is happening. There is a very good probability that the Poseidon will be tested, and then there is a danger of it polluting a lot. Even without a warhead, but definitely with just a nuclear reactor inside.” Boruah said some of the specifications for the torpedo leaked by the Russians were optimistic and doubted it could reach a speed of 100 knots (around 115 miles per hour) with a 100MW nuclear reactor. He added that at such a speed, it would probably be detected quite easily as it would create a large acoustic signature. “Even if you tone it down from the speculation, it is still quite dangerous,” he said. Source: Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Graphic: Henrik Pettersson, CNN Boruah added that the construction of storage bays for the Poseidon, probably around Olenya Guba on the Kola Peninsula, were meant to be complete next year. He also expressed concerns about the Tsirkon hyper-sonic missile that Russia says it has tested twice already, which at speeds of 6 to 7 Mach would “definitely cause a lot of damage without a particularly having big warhead itself.” Katarzyna Zysk, professor of international relations at the state-run Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, said the Poseidon was “getting quite real,” given the level of infrastructure development and testing of submarines to carry the torpedo. “It is absolutely a project that will be used to scare, as a negotiation card in the future, perhaps in arms control talks,” Zysk said. “But in order to do so, it has to be credible. This seems to be real.” Stensønes also raised the concern that testing such nuclear weapons could have serious environmental consequences. “We are ecologically worried. This is not only a theoretical thing: in fact, we have seen serious accidents in the last few years,” he said, referring to the testing of the Burevestnik missile which was reported to have caused a fatal nuclear accident in 2019. “The potential of a nuclear contamination is absolutely there.” Source link Orbem News #amassing #Arctic #military #Russia #unprecedented