Anonymous ID: 34f2bf April 29, 2023, 6:29 p.m. No.18773532   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3598 >>3683 >>3830 >>4019 >>4047 >>4127 >>4132

29 Apr, 2023 22:48

Two killed in Ukrainian strike on Russian border region

The governor of Bryansk has confirmed civilian casualties in Suzemka village

 

A Ukrainian artillery strike in Russia’s Bryansk region early Sunday morning left at least two people dead and several others injured, with multiple houses damaged and destroyed, according to local Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz.

 

The Ukrainian armed forcestargeted a villagein the Suzemsky district located some 10km from the border shortly after midnight, the governor said in a Telegram post.

 

“Unfortunately, as a result of the strike by Ukrainian nationalists, two civilians were killed,” Bogomaz wrote.

 

Videos from the scene, shared by local residents, show first responders working to rescue victims from the remnants of a collapsed cottage. The official said that at least one residential building was completely destroyed and two more houses were damaged.

 

Bryansk and other •Russian regions bordering Ukraine have suffered regular attacksamid the ongoing conflict with Kiev. Most of the incidents have involved cross-border artillery and mortar shelling, as well as drone strikes.

 

Bryansk region also suffered a major Ukrainian terrorist incident in early March, when a group of gunmen crossed into Russian territory before attacking civilians and planting explosive devices. Two people were killed in the assault, and a ten-year-old boy was injured.

 

Responsibility for the incursion was claimed by the Ukraine-based ‘Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK)’, a neo-Nazi unit said to be composed of far-right militants and incorporated into Ukraine’s armed forces. Kiev has denied responsibility for the attack and claimed it was a “provocation,” even as one of theneo-Nazi fighters involved in the raid told the Financial Times that Kiev had “signed off” on it.

 

https://www.rt.com/russia/575553-bryansk-ukrainian-strike-victims/

 

Excellent video with Scott RitterScott says Russia is not at war with Ukraine, because if it was, Ukraine would be eradicated by now. The more Ukraine attacks Russian civilian territory the more Russia will just eradicate Ukraine.

 

PN>>18772299 MEDVEDEV ISSUES NOT SO THINLY VEILED WARNING THAT RUSSIA IS ABOUT TO CUT THE HEAD OFF THE SNAKE

Anonymous ID: 34f2bf April 29, 2023, 6:44 p.m. No.18773623   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3631 >>3632 >>3637 >>3645 >>3683 >>3735 >>3830 >>4019 >>4047 >>4127 >>4132

KEK

30 Apr, 2023 00:48

Zelensky explains why he carries a gun

Ukraine’s president has claimed he wouldn’t have allowed himself to be taken prisoner

 

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has told a local television channel that he and his staff would have died fighting, rather than allowing themselves to be taken captive, had Russian troops breached his Kiev headquarters in the early days of the conflict.

 

“I know how to shoot,” Zelensky said in an interview that was aired on Saturday by Ukraine’s 1+1 channel. The Ukrainian leader claimed that he carries a handgun, but dismissed a reporter’s suggestion that he might have used his pistol to kill himself rather than be captured.

 

“No, no, no,” Zelensky said. “It’s not [to shoot] myself. To shoot back, surely.”

 

Zelensky explained that it would have been a “disgrace” if he had been taken captive by Russian forces, referring to the conflict’s initial stages. After Moscow launched its military operation in February 2022, Ukrainianofficials claimed that Russian special forces attempted to infiltrate Kiev and to breach the presidential headquarterson Bankova Street.

 

“I think if they had gone inside, into the administration, we would not be here,”Zelenskiy said in the interview. “No one would have been taken prisoner because we had a very serious defense prepared… We would have been there to the end.”

 

Zelensky said that some of his Western partners recommended that he flee Kiev, but he allegedly declined a US evacuation flight to defend the capital.

 

According to The Times, however, Zelensky and his associates allegedlyspent almost two months in a bunkerafter the outbreak of the conflict, instead of the planned two weeks. The British newspaper claimed the secrecy around the bunker was so high that those who accompanied the head of state underground had to sign a special non-disclosure agreement, and were banned from revealing any details about the shelter’s design, location, amenities, or even the food that they were given.

 

In the early days of the conflict, Russian President VladimirPutin reportedly told Israel’s then-prime minister, Naftali Bennett, that he was not seeking to capture Kiev or kill Zelensky. The Kremlin has neither confirmed nor denied Bennett's claim.

 

“I knew Zelensky was under threat, in a bunker,” Bennett said of his March 2022 meeting with Putin in Moscow. He claimed the Russian president assured him thatZelensky wasn’t a target.

 

Bennett then allegedly “immediately” called Zelensky to reassure him “Putin is not going to kill you.” According to Bennet just “two hours later,Zelensky went to his office and took a selfie,” in which the Ukrainian president proclaimed “I’m not afraid.”

 

(This guy us full of shit, Putin told the Israel rep they had no intention of capturing or killing Zelensky. Furthermore he would have been long gone if Russia intended that, because they have their ways. And no one would know either way.Zelensky is the biggest coward ever, that’s why he hid out in Poland and underground in Ukraine for months.)

 

Look at the pic RT uses, splains everything!

 

https://www.rt.com/russia/575555-ukraine-zelensky-carries-gun/

Anonymous ID: 34f2bf April 29, 2023, 7:11 p.m. No.18773820   🗄️.is 🔗kun

30 Apr, 2023 01:05

UK shows signs of good will to China, but it’s not the one calling the shots in this relationship

The British foreign secretary says antagonizing Beijing goes against London’s ‘national interests’, but Washington has other ideas

British Foreign Secretary James

Cleverly has claimedin a recent keynote speech that trying to “isolate China” would constitute a “betrayal of [the UK’s] national interests” and spoke out against a “new Cold War.”

 

Although he denounced Beijing on a range of issues, including Hong Kong and the alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, Cleverly’s underlying message was: “No significant global problem – from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic stability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China.”

 

The speech is arguably themost dovish given by a UK official under the government of Rishi Sunak, who had opened up his premiership by declaring the end of the “golden era” of relations between the two countries and calling for “robust pragmatism” in handling Beijing. Despite this, Britain’s foreign policy has steered towards being increasingly hawkish and Sunak skipped the opportunity to meet with Xi Jinping at the G20 summit, as backbench hardliners including disgracedformer prime minister Liz Truss and China hawk Iain Duncan Smith, call for a much more confrontational approach.

 

Can the UK feasibly improve its relations with China to suit its own national interests? The answer is no, it can’t,because it is ultimately not Britain who calls the shots. It has not been able todemonstrate any meaningful degree of independence in opposing the USpolicy on China, and when Washington says jump, London asks, ‘how high?’ The Americans have helped cultivate a hostile media climate combined with the constant promotion of ultra-hawkish figures, which places severe limits on how the UK can deepen its relationship with China.

 

TheUS exerts influenceover its allies by manipulating their “civil society,” – the paradigm of public debate and focus – towards its goals. It does this by utilizing its resources, groups, funding, NGOs, think tanks and associated journalists in order to establish a news cycle favorable to itself, playing up the issues that suit its agenda, and playing down those that do not. Through this method, Washington has been able to weaponize public opinion in the West and turn it against China, creating a hostile climate irrespective of what the given country’s government might intend, and therefore changing the political incentives for all involved.

 

For example, by weaponizing the Xinjiang issue and misleadingly framing it as “genocide,” the US was able to exploit the human rights outrage of Western “civil society” to place pressure on governments and legitimize foreign policy shifts. The UK, which was favorable towards China in its foreign policy and public disposition in past years, is one of the examples of how such manipulation and direct pressure changed the game. While the Boris Johnson government initially advocated for economic engagement with China, the hostile climate which followed has created a firestorm of media negativity towards Beijing and encouraged politicians who vehemently oppose it, such as Iain Duncan Smith or Liz Truss.

 

It is precisely because of these circumstances that London has found it nearly impossible to pursue its own independent engagement with Beijing, and has capitulated on every public disagreement it has had with the US on China policy. For example, the government wanted Huawei to participate in the UK’s 5G network and cleared it as safe, only to then make a U-turn because of American pressure and suddenly brand it as a “national security risk.” Similarly, the government approved the Chinese-led takeover of the Newport Wafer Fabrication Plant in Wales, but a year later caved in to Washington’s demands and vetoed the sale, something which has financially ruined the plant and put jobs at risk.

 

The UK government does not control the terms of any engagement it might like to have with Beijing, and even Rishi Sunak himself, although privately more dovish than someone like Liz Truss, is blatantly open to the idea of using China bashing and paranoia for political gain when he gets the chance. This is a feature of the post-Boris Johnson political consensus in the Conservative Party. Likewise, London is pursuing a militarist, “gunboat diplomacy” stance by participating in the US “Indo-Pacific” strategy of containing Beijing.

 

These conditions are likely why China currently sees engaging with the UK as a waste of time. Thus, while Cleverly’s speech may be diplomatically positive, it is unlikely to be followed up with any real results because an extremely hostile media environment and hawkish agitators will continue to derail the relationship wherever possible.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/575486-uk-relation-china-us/

Anonymous ID: 34f2bf April 29, 2023, 7:18 p.m. No.18773861   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3897 >>3905 >>4019 >>4047 >>4127 >>4132

29 Apr, 2023 23:42

US helpssome citizensflee Sudan

Washington has launched its first coordinated effort to transport Americans out of the strife-torn country

 

President Joe Biden’s administration has begun its first mass evacuations of US citizens from Sudanafter more than a weekof advising them to shelter in place amid fighting between warring factions battling for control of the East African nation.

 

A US-organized vehicle convoy carrying American citizens, locally employed staffers and people fromallied countriessuccessfully reached Port Sudan on Saturday, according to a statement by the State Department in Washington. From there, they will be able to travel across the Red Sea to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The move comes one week after US Navy Seals evacuated American embassy workers from Khartoum anddays afterother nations began transporting their citizens out of the war-torn country.

 

The State Departmentdidn’t specifyhow many of theapproximately 16,000 US civiliansliving in Sudan were brought out in Saturday’s convoy. Media reports pegged the size of the group at “hundreds.” Other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UK, Germany and France, are reportedlywinding downtheir evacuations after getting thousands of their citizens out of Sudan in recent days.

 

The White House has warned that time is running out in Sudan, as violence between the country’s military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group could escalate at any time. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday thatAmericans who wishedto leave Sudan should “take advantage of the options that are available to them in the next 24 to 48 hours.”(they used that same wording for Afghanistan, anyone wanting ir wishing to leave…)

 

US military forces have deployed surveillance and intelligence assets to support evacuation routes, while US Navy ships are now stationed off Sudan’s coast to provide any needed assistance. “Our focus has been and remains to help as many US citizens depart as safely as possible,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Saturday in a statement.

 

Biden’s administration previously claimed that itwasn’t feasible to carry out large-scale evacuations of civilians, even as other countries did so. The State Department said it has helped facilitate the evacuations of some Americans by allied countries in recent days.

 

The administration’s handling of such crises has come under increased scrutiny following its chaotic August 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan, whichleft hundreds of people dead and thousands of Americans stranded.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/575554-american-citizens-sudan-evacuation/

Anonymous ID: 34f2bf April 29, 2023, 7:25 p.m. No.18773905   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4019 >>4047 >>4127 >>4132

>>18773861

Total Number of State Department Employees*77,243

Number of Civil Service (CS) Employees 10,023

Number of FS and CS Overseas Employees 9,378

Number of FS and CS Domestic Employees 14,415

Eligible Family Members (EFM)***

Number of Locally Employed Staff **

Number of USG agencies represented overseas

2,302 51,148 30

Source HR/RMA

HR/RMA HR/RMA HR/RMA

HR/RMA

HR Post Profile M/PRI

Number of Foreign Service (FS) Employees

13,770

Generalist – 7,967 Specialist – 5,803

HR/RMA

Number of FS and CS Employees Domestic and Overseas

23,793

HR/RMA

Number of Posts

Total: 276

Embassies (170); Consulates General (77); Consulates (11); USINT (0); US Liaison Office (1); Branch Offices (6); Missions other than an Embassy headed by a chief of mission (11):

OSCE, UNVIE, USOAS, USOECD, USEU, USUN, USNATO, USUN Geneva, USAU, ASEAN, and US Mission to Somalia. NOTE: USUN Rome, ICAO, UNEP, UNESCO, and OPCW are not headed by Chiefs of Mission.

HR/RMA/RPA

Countries with which we have

diplomatic relations

191

INR/GGI

  • Total includes full-time permanent Direct Hire FS

Employed Staff.

** Locally Employed Staff includes Foreign Service

*** Eligible Family Members include State only EFMs and do not include the inactive reserves.

and CS personnel, Eligible Family Members, and Locally Nationals (FSN) and Personal Service Agreements (PSA).