19 Jul, 2023 04:51

Ammo depot fire forces evacuation in Crimea

Some 2,200 people have been told to temporarily relocate, according to local authorities

Crimean authorities have shut down a major highway and ordered the evacuation of four settlements in the immediate vicinity of an ammunition depot in the east of the peninsula, which “caught fire” on Wednesday morning.

Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov announced the plan to “temporarily evacuate residents of four settlements” at around 7:15am local time, shortly after announcing that a segment of the Tavrida highway was closed due tomajor blaze at a nearby military range.

Later in the day he reported that the evacuation order affected some 2,200 people, who will be provided all necessary assistance. Nobody was hurt in the incident, the official added.

The Crimean leader said the cause was yet to be determined by investigators. Meanwhile, conflicting information has come from Ukraine on whether Kiev was behind the incident.

A messageattributed to Kirill Budanov, Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence, was reported in the media, sayingthe fire was the result of a joint operation by his department and the regular Ukrainian military. However, hours later a spokesman for the agency denied the reports, saying the social media channel quoted by the news outlets was not verified.

Several popular Telegram channels have shared videos purportedly showing the fire.

Vladimir Konstantinov, the chair of the Crimean regional parliament, said there was no reported damage to civilian infrastructure. He predicted that it would be safe for the evacuated people to return to their homes after a day or two.

The incident comes a day after the Russian military reportedly intercepted at least 28 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple locations across the peninsula on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, Kiev used two unmanned maritime surface drones to strike the Crimean Bridge. Moscow condemned the incident as a terrorist attack, saying two civilians were killed and one child injured. Tavrida is a major 250-kilometer highway which continues from the bridge into the peninsula itself.

https://www.rt.com/russia/579938-crimea-depot-fire-evacuations/

19 Jul, 2023 11:39

George Clooney calls for ‘dismantling’ of Wagner PMC

Two American celebrity activists have urged Western nations to use their experience of Al-Qaeda to tackle the Russian group

The US and its allies should seize the opportunity to sanction and prosecute the Wagner private military company in the wake of the aborted mutiny by its chief, Evgeny Prigozhin, according to two American celebrity activists.

The call was made on Monday by actor George Clooney and author John Prendergast, who also served on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. They said there was an “unprecedented opportunity to counter” Russia’s influence in Africa by going after Wagner. (They want Africa for themselves and the elite can continue to steal, plunder, kill and continuous wars, as much as they want)

In a column they wrote for The Economist magazine, Clooney and Prendergast described the private military company as one of Moscow’s “most successful foreign-policy initiatives during the past decade” and an “atrocity.”

Wagner has been offering security services to some governments in Africa. The celebrities claimed the group was “protecting the regime in exchange for mineral concessions” and a way to “hijack a government.” They promoted a report on Wagner’s activities releasedby their NGO, The Sentry, which alleged that the group “seeks to disable multinational predatory networks.”

Evgeny Prigozhin led a brief mutiny in Russia last month, moving some of the group’s forces from Ukraine towards Russian cities. The maneuver was aborted after a deal was struck with the government, which offered him exemption from prosecution in exchange for going into de facto exile.

Clooney and Prendergast believe that the Wagner Group’s presence in Africa, which they described as a “virus,” will continue. However, the transition period can be used by Western nations to “take action against both the operation and its originator.”

“They should create an ad hoc coalition aimed at dismantling the group’s business empire, building on lessons from similar efforts focused on Islamic State and Al-Qaeda,” they suggested.

Islamic State emerged in the mid-2010s amid chaos in Iraq and Syria. Iraq had been occupied by a US-led coalition a decade earlier. Syria was hit by Western-supported anti-government protests in 2011, which quickly escalated into a civil war. Some of Washington’s closest regional allies, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, reportedly supplied arms to anti-Damascus groups, as did the CIA.

Al-Qaeda stemmed from the US-backed campaign to support anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan in the 1980s. While Washington considers it a terrorist organization, in 2012 Jake Sullivan infamously celebrated the fact that it was “on our side” in Syria, according to leaked US diplomatic cables. The incumbent national security adviser to US President Joe Biden was serving in Hillary Clinton’s Department of State at the time.

https://www.rt.com/news/579953-clooney-prendergast-wagner-group/

19 Jul, 2023 08:34

UK military to improve thanks to Ukraine ‘battle lab’ – minister

Britain will roll out new combat technology faster after learning from the ongoing conflict, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has told MPs

The UK is learning from Ukraine in order to improve its own armed forces, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said, as he presented an updated national military strategy document to Parliament.

Ukraine has “tragically become a battle lab” for military technology, Wallace, who intends to step down during the next cabinet reshuffle, told MPs on Tuesday. He was presenting to fellow lawmakers the new version of the Defence Command Paper, first published in 2021.

“In this refresh we are focused on how to drive the lessons of Ukraine into our core business,”Wallace added. The British military is “enabling a culture of innovation,” he claimed, explaining one of the four key modernization directions outlined by his department.

“Following Ukraine’s footsteps, we are increasing the sourcing of those £100 solutions that can stop 100 million [pound] threats in their tracks,winning both the kinetic and economic exchange of modern warfare,”Wallace stated.

The plan also seeks increased investment in military personnel, closer cooperation with the defense industry, and a boost in productivity within the department.

Senior Ukrainian officials, including Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov, have touted their nation as a natural testing ground for Western-made weapons.

“We are interested in testing modern systems in the fight against [Russia] and we are inviting the arms manufacturers to test their new products here,” the Ukrainian minister told the pro-NATO Atlantic Council lobby group last month. “Give us the tools, we will finish the job and you will have new information.”

Wallace is among the most enthusiastic public supporters of Ukraine, and has consistently expressed certainty that it would prevail in the conflict with Russia.

During the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, the minister claimed that the measures formulated by his office would allow the UK to obtain military capabilities faster and be more agile in deploying them globally. Britain’s activities would be linked to those of its allies, he insisted.

“In the future, we will be allied by design and national by exception. Our support for NATO will remain ironclad,” Wallace pledged.

Moscow has blamed NATO’s expansion for triggering hostilities with Ukraine. By supplying weapons to Kiev, the US and its allies are prolonging the conflict but will not change its outcome, Russian officials have said. Moscow also accused the British government of being instrumental in derailing peace talks with Ukraine last year.

(Not a care in the world for the innocent citizens and soldiers of Ukraine & Russia dying, because the MIC is hungry for more death and money)

https://www.rt.com/news/579946-wallace-ukraine-batttle-lab/

19 Jul, 2023 05:27

Pentagon explains F-16 delay for Ukraine

Supplying an adequate number of warplanes would take years and cost billions, a top military official said

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has said Washington is simply unable to provide enough F-16 fighter jets to assist Ukraine’s counteroffensive, citing the time and money needed to supply the weapons.

Asked during a Tuesday press briefing why Ukraine has not received the American fighters, Milley said the focus should instead be on artillery and air defenses, as F-16s will not be feasible in the near-term.

“Just do a quick math drill here. Ten F-16s are $2 billion,” he said. “The Russians have hundreds of fourth- and fifth-generation airframes, so if they're going to try to match the Russians one for one – or even, you know, two-to-one – you’re talking about a large number of aircraft.”

The general saidit would take “years” to train Ukrainian pilots, “do the maintenance and sustainment” operations required, and “generate that degree of financial support,”adding “You’re talking way more billions of dollars than has already been generated.”

While US officials previously said Ukrainian airmen would be instructed to operate the F-16 through an international coalition seeking to help Kiev obtain the jet, Washington has yet to grant formal approval to European countries slated to carry out the training, Politico reported last week.

The State Department is supposed to authorize the transfer of instruction manuals, flight simulators and other materials required for the training, but has yet to do so, with Pentagon spokesman Garron Garn noting that the requests are “still being reviewed.”

Kiev has repeatedly urged its Western backers to provide it with additional airpower, demanding the F-16 specifically on several occasions. Though Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said Ukraine could deploy its first F-16s by late March 2024, it is unclear what Milley’s comments could mean for that timetable.

Ukraine’s much-awaited counteroffensive kicked off in June, but has slowed in the face of powerful Russian fortifications. According to Politico, some senior US officials believe that future support for Ukraine will depend on the success of the operation, though Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has blamed delays in Western military aid for the lagging campaign.

https://www.rt.com/news/579939-pentagon-explains-f16-delay/

A Devastating Video for the Career of Tucker Carlson

July 19, 2023 | Sundance |

If you did not watch the two-hour+ video of Tucker Carlson and Andrew Tate [Rumble Link Here], you might not have the correct perspective for just how devastating this video is for the career of Tucker Carlson.

However, that said, this video is very useful in explaining something about Tucker Carlson that has been discussed, debated and argued on these pages for quite a while. First, watch the video. [6 minutes] WATCH:

Tucker flew all the way to Romania to interview Andrew Tate and present him as the victim of a horrible prosecution. Tucker went out on a limb to portray Tate as wrongly accused. When your entire brand is based on judgement and opinion, you cannot be as wrong as Tucker Carlson was in that portrayal of Tate. You just can’t.

Here’s the bigger issue….

This video shows something very important. Tucker Carlson is above average intelligence, above average communication skills, above average vocabulary, but Carlson also has ordinary and average judgement.

When your brand is established only on your judgement, and insightful opinion based on that judgement – and make no mistake the entire Carlson brand is completely organized around those two characteristics, you cannot afford to be this wrong.

With the evidence of that lacking judgement so clear, it then serves as a very specific and clear data point to reconciling other issues, like Tucker Carlson using the Twitter platform to showcase his Tucker Carlson Tonight broadcasts.

Readers here have long known my opinion of Twitter, and that analysis has equally applied to the current disposition of Elon Musk. Twitter CEO Elon Musk is teetering on the precipice of financial ruin as a result of the extremely unstable financial position of the social media enterprise. Twitter is a bottomless pit of costs, with almost no possibility of financial recovery without some major change in the business model.

The financial position of Twitter is the only prism that matters in the review of decisions that Elon Must is making about the platform. Free speech, liberty, safe opinion, the public square, all of it is less than the financial viability of the company. Every large or seemingly consequential decision on the platform is centered around the finances therein. Despite what might be the front face or intent of Mr Elon Musk, nothing else is more important, influential or determinative of his action.

Carlson’s lack of judgement in the Andrew Tate interview, extends toward and explains his relationship with Twitter and Musk; it’s just bad judgement.

Keep this reference point in mind as you weight the opinion and analysis provided by Tucker Carlson.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/07/19/a-devastating-video-for-the-career-of-tucker-carlson/

https://rumble.com/embed/v2wvmq8/?pub=4

Second video

https://rumble.com/embed/v2wvmq8/?pub=4

>>19205420

Did you watch the 6 minute video?