Comment: Ukraine is universally acknowledged to be one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, and the Defense Department couldn't foresee this becoming problem? Unlikely . . . Ukraine is the perfect hub to smuggle weapons to Western proxies.

• How did Ukraine turn into an arms dealer?
• 'Criminal' ex-Ukrainian MP making millions from arms sales
• Weapons for Ukraine being smuggled to ISIS terrorists in Africa - President of Nigeria
• Russia warns of Ukraine weapons spillover
• Finnish gangs smuggling western weapons from Ukraine to Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, reports Finland's largest media outlet Yle
• Iran slams West over 'uncontrolled' arms shipments to Ukraine
• Russia's UN representative Pyotr Ilyichev lambasts Ukraine's illegal arms trafficking

Comment:

• Sheriffs Association representing 17 states: 'No confidence' in Biden's open borders, DHS Secretary Mayorkas 'dishonest', should be fired
• Ex-Border Patrol Rodney Scott: Letting migrants into US was 'the only agenda' of Biden-appointed DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas
• Even Dems admitting it: Mayorkas says border crisis 'unsustainable' and 'we're going to lose' - leaked audio

Texas has taken the brunt of the invasion and is fed up. The Dallas News reports:

Texas blocking Border Patrol agents from part of U.S.-Mexico border

The U.S. Justice Department complained that Texas National Guard troops fenced off Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, blocking federal agents from the only safe and accessible ramp for that section of the Rio Grande. The state also erected razor wire along 2.5 miles of the river, restricting federal ability to place mobile surveillance trucks or access a staging area to evaluate migrants apprehended in the area, the agency said.

"Border Patrol's ability to view this portion of the border is now limited to a narrow sliver from a single surveillance camera located outside of the newly fenced area," the Justice Department told the U.S. Supreme Court in an overnight filing.

The filing detailed the state-federal standoff in the hours after the state took control of a city park in Eagle Pass that sits along the banks of the Rio Grande.

[...]

At a news conference Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott said the state is acting legally to protect the border.

"Texas has the legal authority to control the ingress and egress into any geographic location into the state of Texas," he said.

Thursday night, Abbott posted on social media that "caravans of migrants are moving through Mexico toward the U.S. border" after a Fox News reporter posted that the Texas Military Department was prohibiting Border Patrol agents from accessing Shelby Park.

"We are making clear that Texas will be a tough place to cross," Abbott said on X, formerly Twitter.

Abbott has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of how far a state can go in enforcing immigration laws — which is a responsibility of the federal government. The governor recently signed a sweeping bill that authorizes state and local police to arrest migrants believed to be in the state illegally.

That law, known as Senate Bill 4, goes into effect March 5. But the Justice Department sued Texas, arguing that the law was unconstitutional and that the state lacks the power to enforce federal immigration laws.

The White House released a statement Friday criticizing Abbott for "extreme political stunts" that "demonize and dehumanize people" while making the Border Patrol's job harder.

"Whether it is leaving migrants on the side of the road in the dead of winter, installing razor wire to make Border Patrol's job more dangerous, promoting extreme and unconstitutional laws like S.B. 4, or his latest actions in Eagle Pass, Governor Abbott has repeatedly proven that he is not interested in solutions and only seeks to politicize the border," the White House said.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, represents the 23rd Congressional District, which includes Eagle Pass and covers about 40 percent of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Asked for comment Friday about the state's takeover of the park, Gonzales kept his response brief. "I'm tracking it closely," he said.

Other Texas Republicans defended the governor's actions, saying the state has stepped up because the federal government has refused to take action.

"Abbott's doing something," said U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Willow Park. "The federal government can't do it, won't do it, whatever. So I think he's doing the right thing. They're defending the borders. They're defending the communities. They're putting razor wire up and they've told the feds 'go away, we'll handle this.' I think it's leadership."

Texas Democrats criticized the policy of blocking federal agents at the border as unprecedented and counterproductive.

"Governor Abbott is interfering with Border Patrol's ability to do its job, and his actions are making the situation at the border worse," U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said in a statement. "These political stunts at the border are disrupting the lives of American citizens and small business owners in Eagle Pass, and there's no evidence that Operation Lone Star has made any meaningful impact on migration at all."

A union representing Border Patrol agents, however, praised the Texas policy, saying on social media that Abbott was freeing agents "to patrol areas with high numbers of illegal aliens" by taking control of an area where "so many ... are simply surrendering."

Comment: Common sense from the unwashed masses:

Comment: The article admits to Ukrainian losses, and even more losses recently. A question is whether it is real. We know that the Biden administration has been looking for money, but did not find quite what was hoped for. Those who did not support more funding need to be told how needed it is. That is only possible to infer from the RT article from knowing the unstated context. If one tries to find the original article this becomes clearer.

Leading House Republicans and the Biden administration are still locked in negotiations on what additional measures should be implemented at the US border. Those talks are linked to a wider funding deal for Ukraine.

If additional U.S. funding for Ukraine is not agreed soon, then the fear for local officials is that Ukrainian casualties in the war will mount further.

ABC needs to boost support for NATO too, so they continue:

Vitaliy, 32, who is originally from Latvia, was being treated for major shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs.

He said he came to fight for Ukraine at the beginning of the war because he didn't want Moscow to threaten his country, which is a member of the European Union and the NATO alliance. [...]

He said he believes that if Russia defeats Ukraine and takes control of wider areas of the country the Kremlin will not stop there.

"The Russians definitely would go further," he said, and "continue to invade countries."

ABC will not tell their readers how this war began, what contribution the US and their states in Europe made to the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, and all that followed, or how US-led NATO built up tensions in Europe over decades. The story of ABC concerning Russia can be found in most European media with few exceptions, and since people have been exposed to this daily for years on end, their beliefs are still mostly intact.

See also:

• To avoid losing control of Europe, the U.S. has a war plan for Europe and Russia
• NATO's new secret plan for nuclear war & space battles with Russia risks spiraling Europe into a new arms race between East & West
• Zakharova: US' colonies in Europe are called NATO
• Fyodor Lukyanov: NATO has already destabilized Europe, is it about to deliver the same medicine to Asia?
• NATO has completed its post-Cold War transformation from Europe's guard dog into America's attack dog

• 'Momentary lapse of honesty?' US Defense Sec. Esper gaffes NATO must 'avoid peace in Europe'
• US commander of NATO forces in Europe insists Euro-Atlantic vassals maintain hostile relations with Russia
• Europe needs 'NATO healthcare' to deal with Covid-like crises - German health minister
• 'EU can't defend Europe': Stoltenberg fires away at Macron's 'brain-dead' NATO caricature

People die at the front, that is what the article confirms. The front line has changed very little, as the daily reports are about this or that tree line having been gained or lost. An increased number of casualties often indicates an intensification of fighting. It can also mean that the logistics are worse and that the injured arrive a longer time after having received the injury. The distance to the frontline from Dnepr is from 80 km and up to around 250 km.

When soldiers are injured or die, there is a need for replacements. Perhaps that explains why:

• Ukrainians in UK told to register for military service (January 2024)
• Ukraine buys 50,000 women's military uniforms (January 2024) See the links!
• Women with medical education to be banned from leaving Ukraine and forced to sign up for military service - Kyiv Post (September 2023)

Short clips of forced mobilization keep coming from Odessa, Nikolaev, Kharkov - areas where traditionally many Russian-speaking people live. The videos typically show people taken off the street, bus, fitness center, club, or at home. Similarly in Western Ukraine, where there are ethnic Slovakians and Hungarians. Some might say that these videos only reflect that the Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians do not dare to protest being carried away, record a video, or that their videos are not uploaded, thus not noticed. Nevertheless, a situation like the current one in Ukraine offers many opportunities to adjust the demographic distribution according to political aims.

Will the situation for the conflict in Ukraine change as violence erupts elsewhere, especially following the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which now has spread to involve the US and the UK in Yemen, again:

• Targeting the Houthis: The West's Obliteration of Yemen by Covert Means (2016)
• Best of the Web: US & UK launch strikes on Yemen, Houthis warn Red Sea blockade will expand to include ships of any country that attacks - UPDATE (January 12, 2024)

2024 may bring some changes to Ukraine, if not on the battlefield then in people's perception. From the last few days there are:

• Ukrainians will benefit from Zelensky's fall - exiled opposition leader
• Ukraine and Palestine: A double threat to US hegemony
• 'Plan B' for Ukraine: Calls for concessions to Russia are growing in both Kiev and the West, but are they realistic?
• Swedes told to 'prepare for war'

In a speech on Sunday, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom hailed his country's expected membership in NATO as "the biggest change in Swedish security policy in more than 200 years."

Billstrom warned:

"Russia will constitute a serious threat to the security of Sweden and Europe for the foreseeable future. Stockholm must be realistic and assume - and be prepared for - a drawn-out confrontation."

Echoing the sentiment, Defense Minister Pal Jonson said, "war can also come to us," claiming that Ukraine is acting as "Europe's shield" in the conflict with Russia.

It takes time for politicians to see the light of day:

• West got Ukraine 'painfully wrong' - EU state's PM

Slovakia's Robert Fico has slammed "stupid liberal demagogues" who still support military aid to Kiev...

Funding and arming Ukraine is a "futile waste of human resources and money" that will serve only to fill Ukrainian cemeteries with "thousands of dead soldiers," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote in an op-ed on Tuesday. Fico's article was a rebuttal to his country's president, who has urged him to send weapons to Kiev.

If one compares the statement of Robert Fico with that of the Swedish war hawks there appears to be a potential in Sweden to add "thousands of dead soldiers," some of whom near the end would end up in a hospital like that in the Ukrainian city of Dnepr.

Comment: Russia has called for an emergency meeting at the UN:

Russia requested the UN Security Council to convene on Friday, January 12, in connection with massed air strikes, delivered by the United States and the United Kingdom on the territory of Yemen, the Russian Permanent Mission to the UN said on its Telegram channel.

"Russia has requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting on January 12 in connection with US and UK strikes on Yemen," the mission said.

The mission told TASS that the meeting was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT).

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate end to attacks on ships in the Red Sea. As many as 11 UNSC members voted for the document, while four countries, namely, Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique, abstained. Prior to that, the UNSC rejected three Russian proposals to amend the text of the draft resolution, including the one that mentioned the conflict between Palestine and Israel as the reason behind the recent escalation in the Red Sea.

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis claimed that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory and would not allow ships associated with it to pass through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave stopped. According to CENTCOM, over 20 commercial carriers and ships have been attacked in these waters since mid-November. In response, the US government declared it was launching operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure the safety of navigation and protect ships in the Red Sea.

In the early hours of January 12, the US and the UK military used surface ships, warplanes and submarines to deliver air strikes on Houthi positions in a number of Yemeni cities.

Turkey's Erdogan responds:

US, Britain of trying to turn Red Sea into 'sea of blood'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the United States and Great Britain for a disproportionate use of force in their attacks on the Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebel movement in Yemen and for trying to turn the Red Sea into "a sea of blood."

"They used force disproportionately and they are trying to turn the Red Sea into a sea of blood. Israel is doing the same in Palestine," the Turkish leader told reporters. "We are currently getting news through numerous channels. And through various channels we learn that the Houthis are mounting a successful response," he added.

The Yemeni capital Sanaa, as well as four provinces — Hodeidah, Taiz, Hajjah and Saada — were hit as the US and UK have so far delivered 73 strikes on Yemen, killing five Houthi fighters and leaving six others injured, the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saria, said.

Blinken claims his recent trip in the Middle East was intended to deescalate tensions:


Flashback:




See also: US & UK launch strikes on Yemen, Houthis warn Red Sea blockade will expand to include ships of any country that attacks - UPDATE