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Russia has spies in Ukraine's top military echelons - Zelensky


RT
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 11:03 UTC
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky
© Chip Somodevilla / Getty ImagesUkrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
Kiev claims its 2023 counteroffensive was derailed because the battle plans were leaked.

Ukraine's large-scale counteroffensive last year was most likely foiled due to Russian spies operating in Kiev, President Vladimir Zelensky has claimed, while promising that the next offensive will be more successful.

In an interview with the German media conglomerate Axel Springer, which was published by Politico and other outlets on Tuesday, Zelensky admitted that Kiev's military push last year - which started last June before getting bogged down in Russian defenses - was "not so successful."

Comment: Making excuses after the fact is not a particularly good look. As many reported from the beginning, the over-hyped 'counter-offensive' was doomed before it even began, and 'Russian spies' were never the issue.

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Stock Down

War, new fiscal policy rules and austerity to turn EU into US

Ian DeMartino
Sputnik
Fri, 12 Apr 2024 08:52 UTC
homeless tent
© AP Photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." - Eisenhower
Earlier this week, Finnish Finance Minister Riikka Purra told a local newspaper that cuts will need to be made to pensions in the country as it attempts to cut an additional €3 billion from its budget. It was the latest in a string of European countries telling its citizens to prepare for belt-tightening even as the EU approved €50 billion in aid for Ukraine.

The austerity measures by the Finnish government come as it is increasing its military budget to be in line with NATO's requirement that member nations spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense.

It also comes as New Fiscal Rules in Europe are set to constrain how EU member states can handle their debt, a move almost assured to lead to more austerity, as some of the countries with the highest debt-to-GDP ratios, including France, Italy and Poland, work to restock their military supplies after sending them to Ukraine.
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Big Bomb

Putin explains strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities


RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2024 06:45 UTC
rocket strike Kremenchug
© Sputnik/Russian Defense MinistryIn this handout video grab released by the Russian Defence Ministry, a view shows a rocket strike at an oil refinery and fuel depots in Kremenchug.
Russia has been forced to repel attacks on its energy facilities in recent months and must retaliate, President Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, during talks in Moscow on Thursday.

Since Kiev launched its drone campaign against Russian fuel sites, Moscow has conducted several large-scale strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which the Defense Ministry described as retaliatory.

The latest attack was confirmed on Thursday. The ministry stated that Russian forces unleashed a wave of high-precision strikes involving long-range air- and sea-based weapons and drones on energy and oil facilities across Ukraine, disrupting the work of defense-oriented enterprises and degrading military production and logistics for Kiev's frontline units. Russia insists that the attacks never target civilians.

Comment: See also:

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Pirates

British-trained commando held after botched Ukrainian sabotage op - Moscow


RT
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 07:23 UTC
The captive provided evidence of London's role in planning military operations against Russia, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

A Ukrainian special operations trooper who was captured in a botched infiltration attempt has provided intelligence on British involvement in Kiev's commando activity, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Thursday.

The Ukrainian combatant was identified in the statement as Evgeny Gorin, age 38. He and his fellow commandos from the 73rd Naval Special Purpose Center of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces were intercepted by Russian troops when they tried to land at the Tendra Spit, a long sandbar in the Black Sea in Kherson Region.
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Star of David

IDF Gaza airstrike murders three sons and 'several' grandchildren of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh

Taryn Pedler
The Daily Mail
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 20:04 UTC
Hamas' supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh,
© Anaolu/GettyHamas' supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh,hit out at Israel , stating Israel are 'driven by the spirit of revenge' as he claimed around 60 members of his family have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war
Three sons and 'several' grandchildren of Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, relatives and official Hamas media said today.

Reports state that Hazem, Ameer, and Mohammed Haniyeh were killed alongside family members in a fatal strike near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.The Hamas political chief confirmed the deaths to Al Jazeera.

'I am grateful to God for the honor he has given me in the deaths of three of my children and a few of my grandchildren,' Haniyeh said, from Qatar.

'My sons were awarded this honor. They remained with our Palestinian people in Gaza, did not leave and did not run,' he added.

Comment:



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Rocket

Iranian strike on Israel 'imminent' - media


RT
Wed, 10 Apr 2024 21:24 UTC
models
© Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images3D models of Iranian missiles and a drone are being placed under an anti-Israeli placard in the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque
Tehran, Iran • March 27, 2024
Oil prices rose above $90 on anonymous intelligence reports...

The promised Iranian retaliation for the Israeli attack on Tehran's consulate in Damascus is likely in the next 24-48 hours, anonymous US officials told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Two generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force were killed in the Israeli airstrike on April 1, which for the first time targeted an internationally protected diplomatic mission.

There has been a widespread expectation that Iran would refrain from reprisal until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Speaking on Wednesday, as Muslims celebrated the feast of Eid-al-Fitr, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israel "must and shall be punished" for what it did.

"Major missile or drone strikes" are now imminent, Bloomberg reported citing "people familiar with" the Israeli, US and allied intelligence reports. They will likely be carried out by either Iran directly, or its allies such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, the anonymous sources said.

The US is helping Israel with planning and sharing intelligence assessments, the sources said. West Jerusalem is reportedly waiting for the Iranian attack before it launches a ground offensive against the city of Rafah, in Gaza.

Comment: The play-out goes from bad to worse...no matter who, no matter what.

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AK47

Meet Centuria, Ukraine's Western-trained neo-Nazi army

Kit Klarenberg
The Grayzone
Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:00 UTC
neo-nazi
© Unknown
A uniquely Ukrainian strain of Neo-Nazism is spreading throughout Europe, which openly advocates violence against minorities while seeking new recruits. With Kiev's army collapsing and a narrative of Western betrayal gaining currency, the horror inflicted on residents of Donbas for a decade could very soon be coming to a city near you.

Centuria, an ultra-violent Ukrainian Neo-Nazi faction, has cemented itself in six cities across Germany, and is seeking to expand its local presence. According to Junge Welt, a Berlin-based Marxist daily, the Nazi organization's growth has been "unhindered by local security services."

Junge Welt traces Centuria's origins to an August 2020 Neo-Nazi summit "at the edge of a forest near Kiev." There, an ultranationalist named Igor "Tcherkas" Mikhailenko demanded the "hundreds of mostly masked vigilante fighters present," who were members Kiev's fascistic National Militia, "make sacrifices for the idea of 'Greater Ukraine.'" As the former head of the Neo-Nazi Patriot of Ukraine's Kharkiv division, and commander of the state sponsored Azov Battalion from 2014 to 2015, Mikhailenko has professed a desire to "destroy everything anti-Ukrainian."
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Stop

Pentagon's Ukraine contract for Musk's Starlink expires - Bloomberg


RT
Wed, 10 Apr 2024 13:52 UTC
spacex
© Mario Tama/Getty ImagesThe launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of 22 Starlink internet satellites into orbit on April 1, 2024.
It's unclear whether the deal for the satellite network that was "the communication backbone of Ukraine" will be extended, the outlet wrote...

The Pentagon contract to deploy Elon Musk's Starlink terminals in Ukraine will expire next month, Bloomberg has reported, citing an unnamed US official. The service plays a vital role in Washington's security assistance to Kiev, the report adds.

The source also revealed that the contract, which went into force in June of last year and lasts through May, is worth $23 million, Bloomberg wrote. The US Department of Defense has so far refused to officially disclose the size of the contract. The amount has been described by the publication as "miniscule" compared to the "hundreds of millions of dollars" Musk's SpaceX received from the US for launching some of its national security satellites.

Musk has repeatedly voiced unease about the use of Starlink in Ukraine. The satellite network has been providing communications to the country's military and the government.
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Bad Guys

Zelensky's Crimea Bridge threat proof of Kiev's terrorist intent - Kremlin


RT
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 19:38 UTC
The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia.
© Getty Images / VladimirSklyarovFILE PHOTO: The Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's threat to destroy Russian civilian infrastructure demonstrates that his government is using terrorist tactics, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Zelensky said he and his government "really want to destroy Russian infrastructure," including the Crimean Bridge. Ukrainian special services have conducted two major bomb attacks on the strategic link over the Kerch Strait, killing several civilians in both cases.

"The Kiev regime is openly stating its aggressive terrorist plans regarding Russian infrastructure," Peskov said, soon after German media conglomerate Axel Springer released a video of its interview with Zelensky, recorded on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian leader's words "prove to us once again absolute correctness and proportionality of the decisions that [Russian President Vadlimir Putin] made regarding the start of the special military operation," Peskov added.

Kiev claims that its attacks on the Crimean Bridge and other infrastructure targets are justified by their military value. Its agents are also engaged in targeted assassinations of supposed enemies of the state, in which they routinely use explosives.
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Light Sabers

The US dangles Yemen bait, but Ansarallah refuses to bite

Khalil Nasrallah
The Cradle
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 19:08 UTC
biden Yemen blockade Ansarallah leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi
© The CradleJoe Bidena and Ansarallah leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi
The US has secretly offered a stunning array of concessions to Ansarallah to halt its naval operations in support of Gaza - to no avail.
We favor a diplomatic solution. We know that there is no military solution.
— US Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking
In a special briefing on 3 April - nearly six months after Yemen launched its far-reaching naval operations to debilitate Israel's ability to conduct war on Gaza - US Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking touted the importance of seeking diplomatic solutions in Yemen instead of the military ones his government has been loudly advocating for months.

Lenderking's stance contrasted sharply with Washington's announcement in December of a multinational coalition against Yemen's Ansarallah-led forces, aimed at safeguarding international shipping in the Red Sea and effectively protecting Israeli-linked trade from Yemen's sweeping naval blockade.
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