8 Jun, 2023 02:31

NATO states may send troops to Ukraine – ex-chief

Poland could lead a “coalition of the willing,” Anders Rasmussen has claimed

Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen has claimed that some member states could volunteer to send soldiers to Ukraine, if the country is not offered security assurances on a wide range of issues at an upcoming summit.

Rasmussen, whoserves as an adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyand worked with his predecessor, Pyotr Poroshenko, said Kiev should be =•given written guarantees before NATO leaders meet in Vilnius==, Lithuania next month, including for Western intelligence-sharing, weapons transfers and joint military training.

“If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action,”he said on Wednesday, according to The Guardian.

I think the Poles would seriously consider going in and assemble a coalition of the willing if Ukraine doesn’t get anything in Vilnius.

After touring Europe and the United States in recent weeks to help gin up military support for Ukraine,Rasmussen argued that foreign troop deployments would be legal under international law if requested by Kiev

Several NATO members have become increasingly vocal about Ukraine’s future in the bloc, urging other Western countries to outline a clear path to membership. Earlier this week, a sub-grouping of Eastern European NATO states known as the ‘Bucharest Nine’ issued a statement urging the bloc to “launch a new political track that will lead to Ukraine’s membership in NATO” at the Vilnius event, as well as a “more robust, multi–year, and comprehensive support package.”

Though Washington has also repeatedly affirmed that Ukraine will someday join the military collective, it has placed greater focus on the current conflict with Russia, hoping to resolve the issue of membership later on. However, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told The Guardian on Wednesday that officials are now “looking at an array of options to signal that Ukraine is advancing in its relationship with NATO,” though did not specify what that might entail.

Zelensky rejected any “substitute for NATO”and reportedly told Western partners that he would not attend the summit in Lithuania in July unless the bloc offersUkraine “concrete” guaranteesor a roadmap to full membership.

Russia views NATO’s continued eastward expansion as a threat to its security and has cited member states’ aid to Ukraine as one of the reasons it launched the military operation in the neighboring state in February 2022. Moscow has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s neutrality would be one of the key conditions for a lasting peace.

(Yep, they are this crazy!)

https://www.rt.com/news/577678-nato-troops-ukraine-rasmussen/

7 Jun, 2023 23:27

IAEA issues warning about Europe’s largest nuclear plant

The UN is sending more observers to Zaporozhye after the Kakhovka dam disaster

It is “critical” for the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant to have continued access to water in order to prevent a reactor meltdown, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.

Europe’s largest atomic power station relies on the Kakhovka reservoir for water to cool its six reactors. However, the water levels have dropped by 2.8 meters since the Kakhovka dam broke early on Tuesday. Once the water level is below 12.7 meters, the ZNPP will no longer be able to pump water from the reservoir, Grossi warned.

“As the full extent of the dam’s damage remains unknown, it is not possible to predict if and when this might happen,” the IAEA director said, but at the current rate of 5-7 centimeters per hour, that could be “within the next two days.”

ZNPP is building up water reserves while it still can, Grossi noted, citing reports from the IAEA experts who are on site. He intends to visit ZNPP next week and bring additional observers to strengthen the agency’s presence at the facility.

“Now more than ever, the IAEA’s reinforced presence at the [ZNPP] is of vital importance to help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident and its potential consequences for the people and the environment at a time of increased military activity in the region,” Grossi said.

The possible loss of the plant’s main source of cooling water further complicates an already extremely difficult and challenging nuclear safety and security situation.

The Zaporozhye NPP is Europe’s largest atomic power station, with six reactor cores capable of generating a gigawatt of electricity each. Russian troops have controlled it since March last year. The region in which it is located voted to join Russia in September 2022, though Ukraine claims it is illegally occupied.

Russia has accused Ukraine of destroying the Kakhovka dam and causing widespread flooding in Kherson Region. President Vladimir Putin called it a “barbaric act” amounting to terrorism. Moscow says that Kiev is trying to secure the flank of its forces so it can bring up reserves after a series of failed assaults on the Zaporozhye front.

The IAEA deployed an observer mission at the ZNPP in September 2022. Prior to that, the station and its environs had been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian artillery, which Kiev admitted at one point. Just before the IAEA mission arrived, Ukrainian commandos also attempted to seize the facility but were driven back. Russia has provided evidence of Ukrainian attacks to the UN, which has stubbornly avoided assigning blame.

In part due to the Ukrainian artillery activity, five of the six reactors at ZNPP have been shut down, with one continuing to operate at a low level to maintain power to the facility. They all require continued cooling to prevent a fuel meltdown and possible radioactive release.

https://www.rt.com/russia/577674-iaea-zaporozhye-nuclear-warning/

7 Jun, 2023 22:21

Russia tells US government to publish truth about JFK assassination

Only when Washington gets its own house in order can it presume to lecture others, Moscow has said (Kek)

If the US wishes to be considered an authority on democracy and human rights, it ought to come clean about the killings of President John F. Kennedy and his brother,£ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

During her regular daily briefing, Zakharova was asked about the statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Washington intends to champion human rights and fundamental freedoms in China and worldwide.

“Washington itself has long fallen short of the standards of democracy that it publicly declares everywhere,” Zakharova replied, adding that the US promotes “pathetic, hypocritical rhetoric” abroad to hide its neo-colonial ambitions and geopolitical interests.

“The history of American politics contains many unsightly facts that are deliberately hushed up by the US authorities,” Zakharova noted. As an example, she cited the Kennedy family – and the recent anniversary of the June 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, during the presidential primaries in which he was a favorite.

The RFK assassination came two months after the fatal shooting of civil rights leader Martin Luther King – and almost five years after the November 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 35th US president, Zakharova told reporters.

“I suggest to Mr. Blinken to muster up the courage and publish all the materials regarding the political assassinationsof the US presidents, in particular John F. Kennedy, and tell his people – his people, first of all – the truth about what happened in Dallas and later in Chicago, at the Democratic Party Convention,” she said.

“Only when they close the case on these political killings, can they try to correct other countries,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman argued. “While such egregious crimes remain unresolved, and the killers not found and convicted, if I were American leaders I would not open my mouth about other countries, and certainly stop lecturing everyone else how too live.

Solve the Kennedy assassination – both of them, actually –and then maybe you will be regarded as an authority. Or maybe not.

RFK’s son and JFK’s nephew Robert Francis Kennedy Junior launched his primary challenge to President Joe Biden in April. In an interview last month, he said there was “overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved” in his uncle’s murder, and “very convincing but circumstantial” evidence the spy agency was also linked to his father's assassination.

The official findings of the US government, known as the Warren Commission Report, said that US Marine veteran Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and shot the president while his motorcade was passing through Dallas on November 22, 1963. Before he could stand trial, Oswald was shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby at the Dallas Police Headquarters. The Warren Commission ruled that Ruby had acted alone, on impulse and out of grief.

Ruby died in prison in 1967. Later that year, the CIA issued a directive on how to discredit “conspiracy theorists” who doubted the official findings of the Warren Commission.

https://www.rt.com/news/577672-kennedy-assassination-russia-lecture/

8 Jun, 2023 00:29

(The Useful Idiots from) Pentagon defends LGBT priorities

US military leaders have warned that laws restricting curriculums and sex-change surgeries for minors could hinder force readiness

US Department of Defense officials have decried new laws in various states that push back against LGBTQ activism – such as bans on sex-change surgeries for children – arguing that the legislation could undermine the readiness of America’s military.

“LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities are under attack just because they are different – hate for hate’s sake,” chief DOD diversity officer Gil Cisneros said on Wednesday at a Pentagon event celebrating Pride Month. “But we must stick together, and we must be prepared to confront any such challenge directly.”

Cisneros was referring to bills passed or proposed in more than a dozen Republican-controlled states on LGBTQ-related issues. Some US states have outlawed giving hormone blockers or sex-change surgeries to minors and prohibited schools from counseling children on gender identity without parental consent. Florida has banned classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, targeting curriculums that Governor Ron DeSantis has condemned as “indoctrination.”

Transformational cultural change requires leadership from the top, and we do not have time to wait.

Alex Wagner, the US Air Force’s top manpower and reserve affairs official, raised similar concerns at an event on Tuesday, saying troops at some bases had to be relocated.

“If servicemembers are thinking and concerned about the experience their kids are having, they’re not going to be focused on their jobs,” Wagner said. “They’re not gonna be focused on their mission.”

Republican lawmakers have criticized the Pentagon for adopting “woke” policies, such as teaching cadets critical race theory and promoting transgender ideology, since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Conservatives also have argued that the DOD’s diversity and inclusion programs have contributed to recruiting struggles.

Citing a 2020 poll claiming that 20% of Americans ages 18 to 25 identify as LGBTQ, Burt warned that military recruiting efforts could be hurt by improper policies and messaging.

“Those barriers are a threat to our readiness, and they have a direct correlation to the resiliency and well-being of our most important operational advantage: our people,” she said.

The DOD has responded to some of the conservative backlash, drawing the ire of LGBTQ activists. Pressed by US Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, on why military bases were hosting “drag queen story hours” for children, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said such events wouldn’t be allowed on DOD properties. A drag show scheduled for earlier this month at Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base was canceled.

(This is fucking pathetic, no women or children will feel safe in this crazy environment.)

https://www.rt.com/news/577676-pentagon-lgbt-pride-event/

Good night, night shift!

It’s a crazy world out there, but NCSWIC!

>>18970635

He’s only at 99.1 million, he’s losing steam, its so pathetic…kek

It took him 10 days to get to 80 million before. He achieved 99.1 million in 33 hours!

https://twitter.com/BchainBasement/status/1666205055207489536?s=20