World War III

[FORD]

He's a Mormon, so he believes we're all literally "brothers" as spirit children of Elohim, Our Heavenly Father.

[Seshmeister]

It's the rest of the band I always feel sorry for when a singer pulls a dumb fuck maneuver like this.

He's fucking 42 years old at this point...

[Kristy]

This is fucking great. Shit band = total shit show

"I'm not your bother...?"

Fuck off.

[Nickdfresh]

Ukrainian Counterintelligence destroyed a Russian BMPT "Terminator" 'tank-support vehicle'. They are rare and expensive and apparently don't work all that well:

[Nickdfresh]

Russian Kerch Bridge to occupied Crimea was attacked again, smoke rises and billows despite the Russians 100% intercept success rate...

[Seshmeister]

[Nickdfresh]

https://www.facebook.com/1501253015/videos/709066197699329/

[FORD]

Uh oh.... looks like Pooty lost Winnie the Xi Jin-Pooh

aljazeera.com
‘Don’t see why not’: China envoy on backing Ukraine’s ’91 borders
Priyanka Shankar




Brussels, Belgium – China’s envoy to the European Union has suggested that Beijing could back Ukraine’s aims of reclaiming its 1991 territorial integrity, which includes Crimea – the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera and two other media outlets, when Fu Cong was asked about supporting Kyiv’s goals, which includes reclaiming other Ukrainian regions now occupied by Russia, the senior Chinese diplomat said: “I don’t see why not.

“We respect the territorial integrity of all countries. So when China established relations with the former Soviet Union, that’s what we agreed. But as I said, these are historical issues that need to be negotiated and resolved by Russia and Ukraine and that is what we stand for.”

The Chinese ambassador’s comments followed the 2023 Europe-China Business Summit in Brussels on June 16.

In an interview with the New York Times in April, Fu said that Beijing did not recognize Moscow’s efforts to annex Ukrainian territories including Crimea and the Donbas.

Since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and backed separatist uprisings in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk, which are in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Although Russia has claimed the peninsula and has extended its occupation in the Donbas, Western powers do not recognize Moscow’s moves.

Besides Fu, Chinese leaders generally refrain from making public comments on Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories.

When a United Nations referendum on recognizing Crimea’s annexation was held in 2014, China abstained from voting and Liu Jieyi, China’s envoy to the UN at the time said: “China has always opposed intervention in the internal affairs of states and respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries”- a stance the Chinese foreign ministry reiterated in a statement in April.


Catch up on our coverage of the region, all in one place.

China has not officially condemned the Kremlin for invading Ukraine in February 2022 and after Russian mercenary fighters threatened a large-scale rebellion in Moscow over the weekend, China’s alliance with Vladimir Putin remains strong.

“As Russia’s friendly neighbour and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday, downplaying the unexpected mutiny led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin as an “internal affair.”

Ambassador Fu defended China’s position on Ukraine, saying it “has been very clear”.

“We advocate peace and we believe that it is important to achieve peace as soon as possible by resolving differences on the negotiating table,” he said.

In February, Beijing released a 12-point proposal aimed at finding a “political settlement” to end the war. As part of these efforts, China sent ambassador Li Hui to Kyiv, Moscow and other European countries last month.

But Beijing’s renewed “no-limits” partnership with Moscow and its position on Russia’s war in Ukraine have seen China’s ties with the EU cool to a frost.

Last week, as Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Europe for the first time since he took office, EU leaders urged him to get tough on Moscow.

The Baltic nations and Poland are particularly frustrated with China, and back imposing sanctions against Beijing and reducing economic dependencies.

In March, before a trip to China, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc should focus on “de-risking” with China, rather than “de-coupling”.

Fu told Al Jazeera that while China understands the EU’s ambitions for a resilient supply chain, the bloc “should not conflate economic security with national security, making it hurt free trade”.

“De-risking should not become de-coupling in another name. The recent developments in the EU over Huawei and ZTE have been concerning,” Fu said, referring to the European Commission’s proposal to ban Huawei and ZTE from 5G networks earlier this month.

“There is no evidence that they are harming cybersecurity and in our view, these baseless accusations go against the spirit of fair play and fair competition, which actually Europe claims to be the champion,” Fu added.

Besides bans, last week, the EU targeted Chinese entities which are allegedly supporting “Russia’s military and industrial complex in its war of aggression against Ukraine” in an eleventh sanctions package against Moscow.

Prior to the announcement of more sanctions, Fu said China has not committed to stopping companies from helping Russia, but he hoped through “dialogue, misunderstandings could be resolved”.

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of course, this is China, so when they talk about the "territorial integrity of all nations" that's probably code for "yeah, we're going to take Taiwan back, so get the fuck out of our way"

[Nitro Express]

Are they going to paint Putin with a Wagner power painter when they finally catch him?

[FORD]

Apparently the Wagner mercenaries are sick of Pooty and want to take him down....

[Nickdfresh]

[Nickdfresh]

Wagner Merc Leader Prigozhin Turns Against the War

Prigozhin Derides Ukraine Invasion as ‘Racket’ to Enrich Russia’s Elite
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, who leads the private Wagner force, has been scathing of Russia’s military leadership for months, but the 30-minute video he released on Friday took his criticism to a new level.

Bombed-out buildings and other ruins in the war-torn city of Bakhmut.
A drone image of the destruction in Bakhmut taken on Friday. Soldiers from Yevgeny V. Prigozhin’s Wagner Group proved key in capturing the city in May.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Anton Troianovski
By Anton Troianovski
June 23, 2023, 12:43 p.m. ET
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the outspoken Russian mercenary tycoon, described his country’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday as a “racket” perpetrated by a corrupt elite chasing money and glory without concern for Russian lives.

While Mr. Prigozhin, who leads the private Wagner force that has been fighting alongside the Russian military in Ukraine, has been scathing of Russia’s military leadership for months, the 30-minute video monologue he released on Friday took his criticism to a new level.

He did not explicitly impugn President Vladimir V. Putin, instead casting him as a leader being misled by his officials. But in dismissing the Kremlin’s narrative that the invasion was of existential necessity for the Russian nation, Mr. Prigozhin went farther than anyone in Russia’s security establishment in publicly challenging the wisdom of the war.

“The war wasn’t needed to return Russian citizens to our bosom, nor to demilitarize or denazify Ukraine,” Mr. Prigozhin said, referring to Mr. Putin’s initial justifications for the war. “The war was needed so that a bunch of animals could simply exult in glory.”

Friday’s diatribe deepened the enigma of Mr. Prigozhin’s ambiguous role in Mr. Putin’s system. His Wagner troops, composed of veteran fighters as well as thousands of convicts whom Mr. Prigozhin personally recruited from Russian prisons, proved key in capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in May after a monthslong battle.

But during the battle for Bakhmut Mr. Prigozhin also emerged as a populist political figure, excoriating Russia’s military leadership for corruption and for not providing his forces with enough ammunition. His angry recordings and videos posted to the Telegram messaging network cast top military and Kremlin officials as unaware and uncaring of the struggles of regular Russian soldiers.

Mr. Putin has not reined in Mr. Prigozhin, even as his security forces have jailed or fined thousands of Russians for criticizing the military or opposing the war. Some people who know Mr. Putin have said they believe that the president still sees Mr. Prigozhin as a loyal servant applying needed pressure on a sprawling military apparatus. Others theorize that the Kremlin has orchestrated Mr. Prigozhin’s tirades against Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister, to deflect blame from Mr. Putin himself.

But Friday’s video complicated the picture, with Mr. Prigozhin going after not just Mr. Shoigu but also unnamed “oligarchs” around Mr. Putin, while casting the entire official rhetoric around the invasion as a sham. He said there was “nothing out of the ordinary” in Ukraine’s military posture on the eve of the February 2022 invasion — challenging the Kremlin’s justification that Ukraine was on the verge of attacking Russian-backed separatist territory in the country’s east.

“Our holy war with those who offend the Russian people, with those who are trying to humiliate them, has turned into a racket,” he said.

The comments come as Russia fights to hold back Ukraine’s counteroffensive — a fight that Mr. Prigozhin asserted in his video was going much more poorly for Russia than the government was letting on. On Telegram, pro-war commentators quickly pushed back against Mr. Prigozhin, including Igor Girkin, a former paramilitary commander who himself has often criticized Russia’s top brass.

“Prigozhin already should have been handed over to a military tribunal for many things,” Mr. Girkin wrote. “Now also for treason.”

NY TIMES LINK

[FORD]

[Nickdfresh]

[Nickdfresh]

Blue and yellow flag, Russian dead attest to Ukrainian advance in south

Blue and yellow flag, Russian dead attest to Ukrainian advance in south

Vitalii Hnidyi
Tue, June 13, 2023 at 5:14 AM EDT·5 min read



NESKUCHNE, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine's blue and yellow flag flew over a ruined grocery store and Russian soldiers lay dead in the street of the village of Neskuchne, reached by Reuters journalists on Tuesday in the first independent confirmation of Ukraine's biggest advances for seven months against Russia's invasion.

Russia has not acknowledged any Ukrainian gains, and President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that for now he saw no need for a new mobilisation of fighting men to confront the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched last week.

"There is no such need today," Putin told a televised meeting of Russian war correspondents and military bloggers when asked about another mobilisation. But he added that it all depended on what Russia wanted to achieve in what it describes as a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

More than 15 months since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian forces are still battling along a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line, though far from the capital Kyiv.

Russian forces tried, and failed, to capture Kyiv in the hours and days after the invasion began on Feb. 24 last year.

In comments shown on the Russian state TV broadcast, Putin said he faced a question only he could answer - should Russia try to take Kyiv again?

Once again on Tuesday Putin threatened to withdraw Russia from the Black Sea grain deal, designed to ease a global food crisis worsened by the invasion, saying the West had cheated Moscow. Russia and Ukraine are both major agricultural exporters.

"We are thinking about getting out of this grain deal now," Putin told the meeting. "Unfortunately, we were once again cheated - nothing was done in terms of liberalising the supply of our grain to foreign markets."

The deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey will expire on July 17 unless Russia agrees to extend it.

UKRAINIAN TROOPS RIDE THROUGH RECAPTURED VILLAGE

Not a single resident could be found in Neskuchne, one of a cluster of settlements on the Mokry Yali river that Ukraine says its troops have captured since their counteroffensive began in a steady advance southwards into Russian-held territory.

Ukrainian troops rode through the muddy streets on the back of a tank and in a pick-up truck. A warplane flew overhead, firing flares.

"Three days ago the Russian forces were still here. We chased them out of Neskuchne. Glory to Ukraine," said Artem, a member of a Ukrainian territorial defence unit, who gave no surname.

The mainly one- and two-storey buildings in the village, which had a population of several hundred before the invasion, had nearly all been damaged. The scene was silent, apart for the crump of artillery fire in the distance.

Reuters saw at least three dead Russian soldiers lying in the street, including one whose fly-blown body lay by an abandoned Russian military vehicle. Artem said the advancing Ukrainian troops had watched from a drone as comrades initially tried to evacuate him, only to dump him and flee.

LINK to the Rest