29 Jul, 2023 20:23

Russia is ready for confrontation with NATO – Putin

Moscow does not want a conflict with the Western-led bloc but is ready for any outcome, Russian president says

Russia is “always ready for any scenario,”President Vladimir Putin told journalists on Saturday, commenting on a potential direct confrontation between the Russian and NATO militaries. The president was answering a question about recent near-collisions involving Russian and American aircraft in Syria.

“No one wants that,”the president added, pointing to the existing conflict-prevention lines that allow Russian and US officers to talk directly about “any crisis situation.” That fact that these lines still work shows that no side is interested in a conflict, he added.“If someone wants it – and that’s not us – then we’re ready,”Putin added.

The Russian military has reported a total of23 dangerous incidentsinvolving Russian aircraft and those of the US-led coalition since early 2023, said Admiral Oleg Gurinov, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria. Most incidents took place in July, he added.

In 11 cases the Russian pilots recorded being targetedwith Western aircraft-targeting systems. Such actions on the part of the US-led coalition led to the automatic engagement of onboard defense systems, which saw Russian aircraft releasing decoy flares, the admiral told journalists. (So is admitting 12 were the Russians targeting the US)

Moscow has also repeatedly warned Washington and its allies about the risks of a potential direct conflict between Russia and NATO, particularly amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Continued Western arms supplies to Kiev only extend the hostilities and make its Western backers engage in the conflict even deeper, Russia said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580528-russia-is-ready-for-confrontation/

29 Jul, 2023 16:05

No better time for Ukraine peace talks than now – NATO member

The conflict between Moscow and Kiev cannot be resolved on the battlefield, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said

Conditions for negotiations to end the Ukrainian conflict will only worsen, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto predicted in Budapest on Friday.The two sides, he believes, wouldn’t be in a better position for talks than now.

At present, Moscow is prepared to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Kiev and its backers, including the US and NATO, are still refusing to enter such talks.

“There will be no better conditions for peace negotiations than the present,” Szijjarto told journalists on Friday following his meeting with the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan. “Yesterday’s conditions were better than today’s, and tomorrow’s conditions will be worse than today’s,” the Hungarian minister added.

Budapest still believes that “there is no [military] solution” for the conflict, Szijjarto said.

Hungary has emerged as one of the most active advocates of a negotiated solution to the ongoing conflict.

Hungarian officials, including Szijjarto and Prime Minister Viktor Orban, have repeatedly called for a ceasefire and peace deal in Ukraine, and have criticized the EU for sending arms to Kiev. Budapest has also been adamant that anti-Russia sanctions hurt Europe more than they hurt Moscow. In June, Orban told German tabloid Bild that a Ukrainian victory on the battlefield is “impossible.”

This week the prime minister also said thatKiev had virtually “run out of strength” and the only thing keeping Ukraine “alive” was Western financial assistance.

Moscow has repeatedly signaled that it is ready for peace talks with Ukraine. It has also blamed Kiev for the lack of progress in diplomacy, citing a decree signed last year by President Vladimir Zelensky that prohibits talks for as long as Russia’s Putin remains in power.

Last month the Ukrainian leader reiterated his stance, that talks with Moscow could only start after Russian forces withdraw from all Ukrainian territory within its 1991 borders, including Crimea. Russia has rejected such demands as unrealistic.

Speaking at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said that the ongoing conflict is rooted in threats posed to Russia’s security by NATO. Washington and its allies “reject negotiations on the issues of assuring equal security,” he added.

https://www.rt.com/news/580517-ukraine-peace-talks-now-nato/

29 Jul, 2023 17:53

Russian tank destroys Ukrainian armored column (VIDEO)

The heavy armor has stopped an attack by two tanks and several military vehicles, Russian media have said

A single Russian tank supported by artilleryhas stopped a Ukrainian attack that involvedaround a dozen armored equipment pieces, Russian media reported on Saturday. A video of the battle first appeared on some Telegram channels and was then posted by RIA Novosti.

The fighting took place in Zaporozhye Region, where the Ukrainian troops sought to assault Russian defensive positions, the news agency reported. Russia’s aerial reconnaissance detected a Ukrainian column moving towards the frontline. “We had an armor piece in this area,” a Russian unit commander told RIA Novosti, adding that thetank’s crew was ordered to intercept the enemy and “engaged in a battle.”

Footage purportedly showing the battle showed the Russian tank attacking the Ukrainian column moving along a road while using a tree belt area for cover. The tank’s crew can be seen actively maneuvering while constantly firing on the enemy. Retaliatory fire returned by the Ukrainian forces does not appear to have caused any significant damage to the Russian armor.

The tank managed to destroy a total of seven Ukrainian equipment pieces on its own, the unit commander said, adding that some other Ukrainian armor pieces were also hit by Russian anti-tank missile crews and artillery. The tank did not suffer any serious damage during the encounter, he added.

According to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Ukrainian column includedat least two tanks and five US-made MRAP M1224 MaxxPro vehicles. The Russian tank crew forced the Ukrainian group to enter a minefield, where some of their equipment pieces were blown up, the media outlet reported.

The battle came amid Kiev’s attempts to breach Russian defenses during its much-touted counteroffensive. The operation, which started on June 4, has failed to bring about significant changes on the battlefield, almost two months after it was launched.

Ukrainian troops have suffered heavy losses, including Western-supplied heavy armor, during their largely unsuccessful attacks on Russian defenses. According to Western media, Kiev’s backers have also been frustrated by the slow pace of the operation.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that theUkrainian troops had already lost “almost a fifth of NATO kit”provided for their counteroffensive. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the difference between the losses of the two sides as “colossal.” Ukraine lost ten times more soldiers than Russia during the battle, he claimed.

(Probably one of the best stories I read, reminds me of a Russian war movie between tanks, but Russians lost in that one.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/580523-russian-tank-destroy-ukrainian-column/

Maybe there was a good reason why they died. Atlantean times being revived

29 Jul, 2023 17:20

Worm revived and reproducing after 46,000 years in permafrost

The microscopic organism belongs to a previously-undiscovered species

Scientists in Russia have successfully revived a female roundworm that laid dormant in Siberia for 46,000 years. The worm sat in suspended animation for tens of thousands of years longer than any specimen studied to date, and began to have babies once thawed out.

The worm – a previously unknown species of soil nematode – was found in a soil sample from near the remote settlement of Chersky in northeastern Siberia, Russian Academy of Sciences researcher Anastasia Shatilovich wrote the current PLOS Genetics journal. Taken from40 meters below the surface, the soil had not thawed since the late Pleistocene period, between 45,839 and 47,769 years ago.

Shatilovich’s team managed to revive the nematode, which then began reproducing via a process calledparthenogenesis, which doesn't require a mate.

While scientists have long known that certain species can survive essentially indefinitely by switching off their metabolisms, they have previously only been able to revive soil nematodes frozen for several dozen years. Efforts to revive other species have proven more successful, with the previous record set in 2021, when ancient bdelloid rotifers, microscopic multicellular animals, were resurrected after 24,000 years in the Siberian permafrost.

The nematode is no longer alive, but Shatilovich and her team have raised 100 generations from its offspring.

“By adapting to cope with extreme conditions, such as permafrost, for short periods of time, the nematodes might have gained the potential to remain dormant over geological timescales,” read an announcement from PLOS Genetics.

Siberia’s frozen landscape alsohosts an unknown number of ancient viruses, one of which a team of researchers last year managed to revive after 48,500 years. Russia has warned that the continued thawing of the permafrost caused by climate change could unleash these dormant pathogens upon the world. Thawing soil that has been deeply frozen for centuries or even millenniacould still contain “some viable spores of ‘zombie’ bacteria and viruses,” Nikolay Korchunov, a senior Russian representative at the Arctic Council, told RT in 2021.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580520-ancient-worm-revived-siberia/

29 Jul, 2023 17:01

Man spends $15,000 to ‘become a dog’ – media

The man, known only as Toco, says he keeps his canine identity a secret from friends and family

A Japanese man known only as Toco says he has fulfilled a childhood dream by spending almost $15,000 to create a hyper-realistic costume of a collie dog.

In videos posted to the man’s YouTube channel, which is followed by nearly 30,000 fans, Toco can be seen wearing the intricate costume in public while being led around on a leash, where he sniffs other dogs in a park and performs other dog-like activities such as rolling around on the grass.

“I became a collie, fulfilling a dream I had since I was a little child to be an animal,” Toco was quoted as saying at the beginning of one of the video clips. He doesn’t speak in any of the videos, apparently to maintain the canine illusion.

“Do you remember your dreams from when you are little? You want to be a hero or a wizard,” he explained. “I remember writing in my grade school graduation book that I wanted to be a dog and walk outside.”

While the four-legged version of Toco is unashamed to parade in public as a popular breed of herding dog, however, the human version isn’t quite so comfortable revealing what he does in his spare time.

“I don’t want my hobbies to be known, especially by the people I work with,” he told the Daily Mail last year. “They think it’s weird that I want to be a dog. For the same reason why I can’t show my face.”

He added in a separate interview with UK publication the Mirror: “I rarely tell my friends because I am afraid they will think I am weird. My friends and family seemed very surprised to learn I became an animal.”

Toco’s first time venturing outside in full collie regalia was last September in the controlled environment of his backyard – but even without prying eyes affixed to him, Toco said the experience had left him feeling “nervous and a little scared.”

The costume through which Toco lives out his dog fantasies was created by a Japanese company called Zeppet, which specializes in creating costumes to be used in television and movie productions.

https://www.rt.com/news/580519-japan-man-becomes-collie-dog/

>>19264564

Really

>>19264565

The attention they seek is very twisted

>>19264586

Kek

>>19264604

It is fake and ghey, its a guy in a dog suit, watch the video

That sure is the weirdest picture of Stone that I’ve seen, why did RT use it?

29 Jul, 2023 21:00

Biden may start ‘World War III’ – Oliver Stone

The famed director said that voting for the aging Democrat was “a mistake”

US President Joe Biden is following a“suicidal” course in Ukraine and may drag the US “stupidly into a confrontation” with Russia, acclaimed director Oliver Stone said during a recent podcast appearance.

Speaking on an episode of British commentator Russell Brand’s ‘Stay Free’ podcast released on Friday, Stone blamed the conflict in Ukraine on the "neoconservative movement who started the war in Iraq," and who still occupy prominent positions in Biden’s government.

“Biden is an old Cold Warrior, and he really hates the old Soviet Union which he confounds again with the Russian Federation, which is not communist,” Stone continued. “It seems that he’s dragging us stupidly into a confrontation with a power that is not going to give. This is [Russia’s] borders. This is their world. This is NATO going into Ukraine. This is a whole other story.”

Stone revealed that he voted for Biden in 2020, a decision that he now considers “a mistake.”

“I was thinking he was an old man now that he would calm down, that he would be more mellow and so forth,” Stone said, adding that he now sees “a man who maybe is not in charge of his own administration. Who knows?”

Back in 2016, Stone produced a documentary, ‘Ukraine on Fire’, explaining the role of the US in the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovich. The film was highly critical of NATO’s eastward expansion, the US’ sponsorship of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, and the war on Donetsk and Lugansk waged by Yanukovich’s US-backed successor, Pyotr Poroshenko.

The Euromaidan coup, he told Brand, “was a very deep plan to penetrate the Russian Federation.”

Stone has repeatedly expressed this sentiment in the years since ‘Ukraine on Fire’ was released. “Since 2014, Ukraine was no longer neutral but anti-Russian, and that’s what disrupted the balance,” he told the Serbian daily Politika in December, adding that “every war has causes and consequences.”

Though Stone was a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump and voted for his Democratic opponent in 2020, his views on the Ukraine conflict align with Trump’s. The former president and 2024 Republican frontrunner has also named the same neoconservativesas key architects of the conflict, while accusing Biden of dragging the US into “a third world war.”

(If Stone votes for Trump the worm has turned and there’s no turning back. Kek)

https://www.rt.com/news/580530-oliver-stone-biden-ukraine/

>>19263704 Thegrayzone: Ukraine’s baby factories rake in record profits amid chaos of war PN

25 Jul, 2023 11:34

Ukraine wants its women back – deputy minister

Kiev is calling for refugees to return home as GDP slid almost 30% last year

Kiev encourages Ukrainian women who have fled the conflict-torn country to come back home, Deputy Economy Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya has said. Her comments came amid warnings that a disproportionate population exodus could have a devastating effect on the nation's economy.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg published on Monday, Berezhnaya said that “for me personally, victory is when Ukrainian families unite in Ukraine, not abroad.” The minister added that Kiev’s priority is “to make everything possible so that women with children come back to their husbands.”

Shortly after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Kiev announced a general mobilization, banning most men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. This led to a large gender gap among Ukrainian adult refugees, with at least 70% of them being women, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Ukraine was already struggling with demographics even before the onset of the conflict, with a fertility rate of just 1.16 as of 2021, and the large-scale hostilities have only exacerbated the situation.

According to Alexander Isakov of Bloomberg Economics, if Kiev fails to persuade 2.8 million Ukrainian working-age women to return, it could cost the country 10% of its annual pre-conflict GDP. In the worst-case scenario, Ukraine will lose $20 billion a year, Bloomberg’s analysis claims.

Speaking to the outlet, Oleg Gorokhovsky, chief executive of Ukraine-based Monobank, stressed that women have a disproportionate impact on consumer demand as they are key decision-makers when it comes to buying household items.

“Without them, it will be super hard,” he added, commenting on prospects for the recovery of the Ukrainian economy that saw a 29.1% GDP decline in 2022. In 2023, it is projected to rebound by only 0.5%, according to the World Bank.

In total, according to UN data, more than six million Ukrainian refugees have fled the country, with the majority of them staying in European countries.

Berezhnaya’s comments contrast with the stance of authorities on the issue in the autumn of 2022. At the time, numerous Ukrainian officials urged their fellow citizens not to come back from abroad in winter, citing issues with power generation caused by recurring Russian strikes. Moscow intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in response to a deadly bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580257-ukraine-wants-women-return/