#russo-ukrainian crisis

[opanas-opanasovych-opanasenko]

After seeing Westerners bully a 14-year old boy from Odesa for not wanting to potentially interact with people who are committing genocide of his people on twitter, I felt compelled to return to that hellsite for a while to write a thread to explain why we might feel that way. Here it is, I feel it might be useful for those who don't understand why we're like this when it's "not all russians":

Thread screenshots after the break:

[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

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇸 🚨

UNITED STATES CONGRESS PASSES SERIES OF ANTI-DEMOCRATIC AND PRO-WAR BILLS DESPITE PUBLIC OPPOSITION

The United States Congress and Senate passed a series of bills, including three controversial anti-democratic and pro-war bills, two of which were tied together, on Saturday, bypassing public opinion and popular opposition to the profligate, pro-war, globalist, Neolib/Neocon agenda currently driving United States domestic and foreign policy.

Included in the bills passed was a bill to force TikTok to divest from its connections with China at risk of being banned immediately, which naturally was tied to a Foreign aid bill.

However, as even Republican Senator Rand Paul mentioned in an opinion piece in Reason Magazine, the Bill is almost certain to lead to more power for American political elites and their administrations to pressure companies like Apple and Google to further ban apps and sites that offer contradictory opinions to that of the invented narratives of the American Political class.

Before long, Americans, many of whom are already poorly informed, and heavily misinformed by their mainstream media, could lose access to critical information that contradicts the narratives of the United States government and corporate elites.

Horrifically, this only the start. The US Congress also extended the newly revised FISA spy laws, which gives the United States government the power to spy on the electronic communications of foreigners, while also conveniently sweeping up the conversations of millions of Americans, as we learned years ago thanks to the sacrifices of whistle blowers and journalists like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange.

The new FISA Law goes further than this, however, granting US Intelligence agencies the power to spy on the wireless communications of Americans in completely new ways.

A recent Jacobin article describes these new powers as a, "radical expansion of government surveillance that would be ripe for abuse by a future authoritarian leader", or it could just be used by the authoritarian leadership we have right now, and have had for decades.

In fact, when one commentator described the new powers as "Stasi-like," Edward Snowden himself replied with a long post in which he remarked, "invocation of "Stasi-like" is not only a fair characterization of Himes' amendment, it's probably generous. The Stasi dared not even dream of what the Himes amendment provides."

The amendment in question just "tweaks" the current law's definition of an "electronic communication provider," which is being changed to "any service provider," something extremely likely to be abused by the government to force anyone with a business, a modem and people using their broadband to collect the electronic communications of those people, while also forcing their victims into silence.

The government could essentially force Americans to spy on other people and remain silent about it. Cafe's, restaurants, hotels, business landlords, shared workspaces all could get swept up into the investigations of the Intelligence agencies.

Worse still, because picking out the communications of a single user would be next to impossible, all of their victim's data would end up being surrendered to the authorities.

Sadly, the assault on Americans by their own political elites didn't end there, to top this historic day in Congress, at time when the United States public debt is growing at an astounding rate of $1 trillion every 100 days, US lawmakers also passed a series of pro-war aid packages to American allies (vassals) totalling some $95 billion.

Included in the foreign aid bill are aid packages totalling $61 billion for the Ukraine scam, $26 billion for Israel's special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, and $8 billion to the Indo-Pacific to provoke WWIII with China, at the same time we're also provoking a nuclear holocaust with the Russian Federation.

Also buried in these aid packages is the authorization for the United States government to outright steal the oversees investments of the Russian Federation, and thereby the Russian taxpayers.

Astonishingly, and in direct opposition to the wishes of their own voters, Republican support was won without the possibility of conditioning the aid to any kind of border security, this despite the issue being among the top biggest concerns of Republican voters.

Although much of the money is to be used replenishing the heavily depleted stocks of America's weapons and munitions, it remains unclear where the munitions are expected to come from, as US defense production has remained sluggish and slow to expand despite heavy investments and demand in recent years, despite the rapid urgency with which the policy elite describe the situation.

It bodes poorly for working Americans that only a relatively small handful of lawmakers opposed the bills, producing unlikely bedfellows like Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Mike Lee in the Senate, opposing the FISA bill.

While in the House, the loudest opposition to the foreign aid bill mostly came from populist Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Paul Goser. Only 58 Congresmembers voted against the Foreign Aid Bill in which the TikTok ban was tucked.

Not one word from American politicians about the need to raise the minimum wage, which hasn't been increased since 2009 despite considerable inflation, nor a word about America's endlessly growing homelessness crises, property crime increases, or the 40-year stagnation of American wages, the deterioration of infrastructure, and precious little was said besides complaints about border security over the immigration crises sparked by American Imperialist adventures and US sanctions.

What we've learned today is that we are highly unlikely to see any changes to the insane behavior of the US and its allies any time soon, neither with regards to the absolutely bonkers Neocon foreign policy leading us to the edge of abyss, nor the spending-for-the-rich/austerity-for-the-poor Neoliberal domestic policy of the last 45 years.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

Blue: titles are opinion pieces or analysis, and may or may not contain sources.

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

And to those who are still in favor of Harris, fuck yourselves, people in Gaza are dying because of you, because the blues are supplying weapons to Israel, and shove the text "But Trump is worse!" up your ass, because it's a shitty argument with which you avoid consequences for your crimes (Yes, fuck blue people like you fuck Trump fans, you deserve each other)

I had to get this shit out because liberals are annoying

(I started writing this post a few hours ago, but the battery started to die, so I had to turn it into a draft)

Yes, I'm pissed at the blue people because they will uncritically defend Harris…

Now that I have your attention:

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

Let it be known that Ukraine has and will continue to hold onto Russian land until Russia leaves Ukraine's internationally recognized territory. Most of all it's very telling that Putin and Russian state media had downplayed and ignored Kursk due to it being an absolute disaster for Russia, well when they aren't calling for those same Russian villages and towns to be homed into the ground. It's almost insane to think that people thought Ukraine wouldn't last a week much less several years, but never underestimate the fighting will of people opposing tyranny. Don't stop fighting until Ukraine is free!! 💛💙💛💙💛💙

[ohsalome]

Apologies for shitty auto-translation

[half-life-crisis]

It has been over 2 years & 7 months since the #Russian #military crossed the #border into #Ukraine. This #war rages on while many #people have already #forgotten it.

https://halflifecrisis.com/hlc-articles/ukraine-russia-conflict-948-days-later…

This #article is from my #series the #newscyle ignores, yet it affects all our #lives!

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty — the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States — sharply upping the ante amid tensions with Washington over the fighting in Ukraine.

Speaking in his state-of-the-nation address, Putin also said that Russia should stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if the U.S. does so, a move that would end a global ban on nuclear weapons tests in place since Cold War times.

Explaining his decision to suspend Russia's obligations under New START, Putin accused the U.S. and its NATO allies of openly declaring the goal of Russia's defeat in Ukraine.

“They want to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on us and try to get to our nuclear facilities at the same time," he said, declaring his decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the treaty. "In this context, I have to declare today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms.”

New START's official name is The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg voiced regret about Putin’s move, saying that “with today’s decision on New START, full arms control architecture has been dismantled.”

"I strongly encourage Russia to reconsider its decision and respect existing agreements,” he told reporters.

Putin argued that while the U.S. has pushed for the resumption of inspections of Russian nuclear facilities under the treaty, NATO allies had helped Ukraine mount drone attacks on Russian air bases hosting nuclear-capable strategic bombers. The Russian military said that it shot down the Soviet-built drones that struck two bomber bases deep inside Russia in December, but acknowledged that several servicemen were killed by debris that also damaged some aircraft.

Putin on Tuesday mocked NATO's statement urging Russia to allow the resumption of the U.S. inspections of Russian nuclear weapons sites as “some kind of theater of the absurd.”

“The drones used for it were equipped and modernized with NATO's expert assistance,” Putin said. “And now they want to inspect our defense facilities? In the conditions of today's confrontation, it sounds like sheer nonsense.”

He said that a week ago he signed an order to deploy new land-based strategic missiles and asked: “Are they also going to poke their noses there?”

The Russian leader also noted that NATO's statement on New START raises the issue of the nuclear weapons of Britain and France that are part of the alliance's nuclear capability but aren't included in the U.S.-Russian pact.

“They are also aimed against us. They are aimed against Russia,” he said. “Before we return to discussing the treaty, we need to understand what are the aspirations of NATO members Britain and France and how we take it into account their strategic arsenals that are part of the alliance's combined strike potential."

Putin emphasized that Russia is suspending its involvement in New START and not entirely withdrawing from the pact yet.

The New START treaty, signed in 2010 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The agreement envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. Just days before the treaty was due to expire in February 2021, Russia and the United States agreed to extend it for another five years.

Russia and the U.S. have suspended mutual inspections under New START since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Moscow last fall refused to allow their resumption, raising uncertainty about the pact’s future. Russia also indefinitely postponed a planned round of consultations under the treaty.

The U.S. State Department has said that Russia’s refusal to allow the inspections “prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control.” It noted that nothing prevents Russian inspectors from conducting inspections of U.S. facilities.

Putin on Tuesday challenged the U.S. assertion, alleging that Washington has rejected some Russian requests for visits to specific U.S. facilities. “We aren't allowed to conduct full-fledged inspections under the treaty," he said. “We can't really check anything on their side.”

He alleged that the U.S. was working on nuclear weapons and some in the U.S. were pondering plans to resume nuclear tests banned under the global test ban that took effect after the end of the Cold War.

“In this situation, Rosatom (Russia's state nuclear corporation) and the Defense Ministry must ensure readiness for Russian nuclear weapons tests,” Putin said. “We naturally won't be the first to do it, but if the U.S. conducts tests we will also do it. No one should have dangerous illusions that the global strategic parity could be destroyed.”

[ammg-old2]

It’s been a year since the Russians invaded Ukraine and launched the biggest conventional war in Europe since the Nazis. One of the things that I think we’ve all worried about in that time is the underlying problem of nuclear weapons.

This is a nuclear-armed power at war with hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of Europe. This is the nightmare that American foreign policy has dreaded since the beginning of the nuclear age.

And I think people have kind of put it out of their mind, how potentially dangerous this conflict is, which is understandable, but also, I think, takes us away from thinking about something that is really the most important foreign problem in the world today.

During the Cold War, we would’ve thought about that every day, but these days, people just don’t think about it, and I think they should.

[opanas-opanasovych-opanasenko]

there are russian strategic bombers in the air again in the dead of night most likely to launch missiles at power stations again and I am just so tired

[head-post]

Land for land: how Ukraine violated UN Charter with Kursk incursion, alarming message to Global South

Europe is getting dragged into the war in Ukraine, while EU and US officials endorse Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region. Kyiv’s actions violate the UN Charter and send an alarming signal to the global South about the double standard policy.

The incursion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) into the Kursk region, Russia, was a daring gamble for the country’s military commanders, who deployed their limited resources on a risky offensive with no guaranteed success, AP News reported.

After initial signs of progress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky broke the silence and outlined the interim results of Kyiv’s efforts. By Wednesday, Ukrainian officials claimed that the army allegedly controlled at least 74 minor settlements. However, a week after the Kursk invasion began, the overall purpose of the military operation remains unclear.

Military experts split in their opinions: some say that Ukraine will entrench itself in the positions it has already occupied, whereas others claim that the AFU will continue its active offensive without the intended end goal. However, the incursion has already affected the protracted standoff.

By attacking the Kursk region, Ukraine has reportedly brought in a lot of scarce equipment and manpower, resulting in weakened positions in other areas where active fighting is taking place. In the Pokrovsk and Toretsk directions, Russian troops are breaking through the defences of the AFU, according to Ukrainian media. The Russians are rushing towards Pokrovsk, a key strategic hub.

In Niu-York, formerly Novhorodske, Russia advanced by almost 1.5 kilometres. Fighting continues in Hrodivka, Zhuravka, and along the railway towards Novohrodivka and Mykolaivka, Donetsk region. To the south, in the Vuhledar area, Russian forces are also attacking, breaking through to the major O0532 road and menacing to take the city of Vuhledar.

UN Charter violated, talks derailed

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.

All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Previously, the Ukrainian authorities were actively accusing Russia of attacking the territory of another state, but now Kyiv is making the same move. Furthermore, President Zelensky derailed the possibility of negotiations in the near future, which Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine was ready for and which had been actively promoted by international mediators.

According to The Independent, Mykhailo Podolyak, the top aide to the Ukrainian president, stated that the invasion served as a tool to “coerce” Russia into peace talks.

We need to use absolutely clear tools to coerce Russia [into negotiation]. One of them is a military instrument of coercion. That is, we need to inflict significant tactical defeats on Russia, in addition to economic and diplomatic tools. In the Kursk region, we are seeing the optimisation of this military tool of coercion to force Russia into the negotiation process.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already declared that the possibility of negotiations is lost after the incursion into the Kursk region.

The intrusion is moving into its second week, but the reaction of international observers is already raising questions. A senior US defence official revealed that Kyiv allegedly did not inform Washington of a long-term plan after the start of the incursion, according to Defense One.

We didn’t get any advanced notification. What the Ukrainians were able to do was operational security, and that is something that I think we should be giving credit for. It definitely surprised the Russians.

According to the official, the Pentagon is “asking the Ukrainians what their real intent is, kind of long term, and how it plays into future negotiations.” However, there has been no statement that Ukraine’s actions violate the UN Charter on international borders, nor has there been any condemnation.

The global community does not seem intent on imposing sanctions on Kyiv, whereas Moscow faces multiple packages of sanctions for exactly the same actions against Ukraine.

Read more HERE

[workersolidarity]

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 🚨

INTENSE BATTLES AS RUSSIAN FORCES BREAK THROUGH UKRAINIAN DEFENSES NEAR ROBOTINO IN ZAPOROZHYE

📹 Ukrainian footage showing the breakthrough of Russian Forces of Ukraine's defensive belt near the village of Robotino in the Zaporozhye sector.

Russian Forces from the Southern Military District and Airborne Forces launch a powerful attack on the Ukrainian defensive belt, pushing more than 2km into Ukrainian-held territory, won through great sacrifice during last year's Ukrainian offensive in the Zaporozhye direction.

In the footage, Ukrainian forces destroy several pieces of Russian equipment and systems, though it does little to slow the Russian advance, with one tank being hit directly, only to storm forward mostly undamaged.

Russian landing forces then disembark from armored vehicles under BMP suppressive fire and secure several enemy positions.

Russian Forces manage to breakthrough into the village of Robotino, capturing positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and capturing or killing many Ukrainian militants.

In another operation, Russian Forces also announced the capture of the village of Pobeda, south of the recently captured city of Marinka in the South Donetsk direction.

“In the Donetsk direction, units of the Southern Group of Forces liberated the village of Pobeda,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

According to the Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian forces in the South Donetsk direction lost over 410 servicemembers, one tank, three armored vehicles, five military vehicles, one Polish-made Krab and one Bogdan self-propelled artillery systems, one D-20 howitzer, and a self-propelled Gvozdika artillery system.

#source

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[at-the-end-of-days]

Latvia has released an updated “what to do” handbook in anticipation of a Russian invasion.

[half-life-crisis]

For the past few days, I’ve been binge watching content from many #Russian #expats and others who still remain in Russia giving us an #insight into their #lives. https://halflifecrisis.com/hlc-articles/lets-talk-about-the-russian-people… To truly understand #Russia you must need explore their vast #history. It's eye-opening.