Politics, Everyday, All day... morning, noon and night....II

[Simon of the Playa]

he was Wearing his Tighty Whiteys...

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/stat ... 2150079489

[Canoe]

Russian forces have reportedly disrupted humanitarian corridors established in Mariupol and Sumy. This is the third successive day President Putin's forces have breached their own ceasefire agreements.
https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/15 ... 7980305409

Contrary to their public agreements, the Russians are repeatedly blocking citizens from leaving, shelling & bombing them while they're captive in place. People are out of food. The latest is bombing a hosiptal, with early reports of 'destroying a maternity and children's ward'.
This is beyond punishment for rejecting coming back under Russian/Soviet control.
This is beyond destroying the owners of property/land so there's no one left to claim that property/land.
They're being held captive in place, without food, being killed, because they're Ukrainians in Ukraine, and Putin wants Ukraine. Take the land, kill the people.
Call it like it looks - this is genocide.

[Simon of the Playa]

29AA403B-81B0-4E9A-A37F-9FF3B98874B6.jpeg

[Simon of the Playa]

56E68D10-C5BE-422F-9D6C-BA1D7F3C4CE5.jpeg

[Simon of the Playa]

This week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova — without evidence — accused Ukraine of running chemical and biological weapons labs with U.S. support. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Russia’s claim “preposterous” and said it could be part of an attempt by Russia to lay the groundwork for its own use of such weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 2696a3448b





here is the some of the bullshit going around the conspiritorial right:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1254486.shtml

[Canoe]

This week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova — without evidence — accused Ukraine of running chemical and biological weapons labs with U.S. support. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Russia’s claim “preposterous” and said it could be part of an attempt by Russia to lay the groundwork for its own use of such weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine. ...

Jen Psaki @PressSec United States government official
We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.

This is preposterous. It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.

• It’s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political enemies like Alexey Navalny.
• It’s Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons.
• It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.
• Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. In December, Russia falsely accused the U.S. of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine.

This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.
Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern.

Russia’s RIA-Novosti claiming Ukrainian nationalists have brought 80 tons of ammonia to a village near Kharkiv so they can stage a “false flag” chemical weapons attack. Straight from their Syria playbook, where it never happened either.

Sounds just like Syria
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... like-syria

12 hours. 4 Syrian Hospitals Bombed. One Culprit: Russia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/worl ... itals.html

[Canoe]

Sam Dubberley Spoke to @dwnews about the potential harms of watching war on a screen and what we can all do to protect ourselves. Prepare yourself avoid suprise, turn off sound and acknowledge what you're doing and seeing. More important advice in this from @jospang
https://twitter.com/samdubberley/status ... 9012565000

various points encountered

[On the mass graves] Russia has refused taking back their fallen for burial. since bodies can't be left to spread disease, something must be done in these times of full morgues. they can't even be identified if passports have been taken away (which has been the case).

[From video of UKR soldiers checking dead Russian soldiers.] They found phones, said will look through contacts and what they've been communicating.
Read the names on the tags, said "Mom, come over and pick him up".

A U.S. official estimates Russians have lost 5,000-6,000 killed in the first 2 weeks of battle. Standard battlefield math assumes 3x as many wounded as killed, so that puts the number of wounded at 15,000-18,000.

Those soldier and some volunteer are post too much on tiktok SIGNIT and IMINT are having a field day finding them.

The UN's monitoring mission for Ukraine notes that "Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes." #EWIPA

Amnesty investigation finds a Russian airstrike that reportedly killed 47 civilians in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv — mostly people waiting for food — used at least 8 unguided “dumb” bombs and may be a war crime. No legit military target in the area.
https://twitter.com/samueloakford/statu ... 6056309765

A former student of mine, Maxim, was killed by Russian tank fire in Bucha today while helping to evacuate civilians from the town. His civilian car was shot at killing all passengers.
[a number of videos going around social media showing the results of similar events of intentional targeting]

Zelensky: "What kind of country is Russia if it's afraid of hospitals and maternity houses, and destroys them?

Were there little nationalists there? Were pregnant women going to shoot missiles at Rostov? Did someone in that maternity hospital offend Russian-speaking people?"

The Kremlin has tried so hard to dehumanize Ukrainians and spread Ukraine-phobic messages. These strikes aren't collateral damage. They aren't unintentional consequences of war. They are literally the point of an anti-Ukrainian policy.

Our friends were escaping from a village near Chernigiv. A huge burly man in camo stopped their car. "Do you have children inside?" "Yes," they said, expecting the worst. "Here, take this jug of milk!"

I have been talking to and listening to escape stories of refugees women and children. They all leave you heartbroken... One was three kids, now safely in Vienna, playing "let's hide in the bomb shelter."

An admission here is to stave off further “punishment” from the mothers of the war dead (a historically powerful force in Russia). this confirms that the Kremlin is unable to fully wall off the public from the deadly consequences of this conflict… and fears the consequences.

Kremlin spokesman: Putin was unaware that Russian conscripts were sent to Ukraine. He claimed that Russian armed forces were told not to involve conscripts.

It's the first time that Russia admitted sending conscripted soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

Russia has suspended the sale of foreign currencies until September 9, the central bank said Wednesday. Between March 9 and September 9 "the banks will not be able to sell foreign currencies to citizens." (AFP) All ruble convertibility is over. Putin has destroyed the ruble.

the Russian government is currently trying to rally the people against a common enemy in order to prevent general unrest.

Secretary of the general council of Russia's ruling party calls for nationalizing production plants of firms that have stopped operations in Russia

["unable to fully wall off the public from the deadly consequences of this conflict"]
#Russia began active preparations for disconnection from the global Internet

No later than March 11, all servers and domains must be transferred to the #Russian zone. In addition, detailed data on the network infrastructure of the sites is being collected.

The FSB is recruiting a new form of online trolls: young people whose job is to scour comments under social media posts or news items for statements that might be considered "extremist" or "seditious". Starting salary is $500. Creating the world's biggest network of snitches.

The Russian military is so incompetent it releases footage of Su-34 ‘24’ taking off for a new sortie a day after it was shot down over Ukraine.

Leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined requests to speak to President Biden during the Ukraine crisis, officials say. They both took calls from Putin.

US military personnel have entered a wartime posture. I’m told that US American Soldiers have begun dual-strapping their camouflage backpacks while standing in line at Starbucks

[Canoe]

We aren’t going after Russian oligarchs in the right way. Here’s how to do it

We’re sanctioning Russian oligarchs up the wazoo, hoping it’s a way to get Putin to stop his deadly attack on Ukraine.
But for this tactic to work, two conditions must be met: first, the US and our allies must be able to locate and tie up Russian oligarchic wealth. Second, Russian oligarchs must have enough power to stop Putin.
...

American oligarchs have enormous political clout. In the 2012 presidential election (the most recent for which we have detailed data on individual contributions), the richest 0.01% of Americans – the richest 1% of the richest 1% – accounted for 40% of all campaign contributions.

What have American oligarchs got out of these campaign contributions? The lowest tax rates on the highest incomes in over a generation – and the lowest among all wealthy nations. They’ve also gotten an IRS so starved of resources it’s barely able to enforce the law.

...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... s-approach

[Canoe]

Interrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s election win on 6 January last year as part of the scheme to return Donald Trump to office was known to be unlawful by at least one of the former president’s lawyers, according to an email exchange about the potential conspiracy.

The former Trump lawyer John Eastman – who helped coordinate the scheme from the Trump “war room” at the Willard hotel in Washington – conceded in an email to counsel for then vice-president Mike Pence, Greg Jacob, that the plan was a violation of the Electoral Count Act. But Eastman then urged Pence to move ahead with the scheme anyway, pressuring the former vice-president’s counsel to consider supporting the effort on the basis that it was only a “minor violation” of the statute that governed the certification procedure.

“The Senate and House have both violated the Electoral Count Act this evening – they debated the Arizona objections for more than two hours. Violation of 3 USC 17,” Eastman wrote to Jacob in his 9.44pm email, referring to the statute in the US criminal code. But in the second part of his email, Eastman claimed that because the statute had already been violated in small ways – delays that amounted to a few hours at best – Pence should have no problem committing “one more minor violation and adjourn for 10 days”.

The admission that the scheme was unlawful undercuts arguments by Eastman and the Willard war room team that they believed there was no wrongdoing in seeking to have Pence delay the certification past 6 January – one of the strategies they sought to return Trump to power.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... mike-pence

[Canoe]

Ukraine still having successes

Very poor tactics displayed by this Russian armored force so close to Kyiv. They're well within range of Ukrainian artillery in Kyiv, they're on an obvious avenue of approach, and they still decided to bunch up like this, leaving them more vulnerable to indirect fire.
UAV footage showing Ukrainian attacks on a Russian armored column in Brovary, including that captured T-72A tank. According to the audio, the regimental commander was killed. It appears it was a mix of Ukrainian artillery and tank strikes on the column.
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1501874452090560515
[scroll down for more footage, some interesting comments but most are the usual noise]

What a news article on that looks like
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... s-kyiv-war

Russians destroying civilian targets

[Several sliders showing the before/after sat images of Mariupol
can discern damaged, destroyed, flattened]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... s-hospital

[Canoe]

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to enforce its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 152 state parties.

Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as

... any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2

Article 3 defines the crimes that can be punished under the convention:

(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention

[Canoe]

various on Ukraine

Russian troops were ambushed [shows bridge, from distance]
https://twitter.com/Vitaliy23404583/sta ... 0389226497

[unconfirmed]
China refuses to supply aircraft parts to Russian airlines - official of the Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviastiya

https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/15 ... 9701664769

The USA just warned that Chinese that companies aiding Russians to dodge sanctions will be sanctioned and put on the 'enemies list'. The US is a better market for Chinese exports than Russia will ever be. So is the EU.

Photos of damage at Nikolsky Mall in Kharkiv after Russian army shelling, opened in May 2021, construction worth €110M
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/15 ... 0993947653

Identifiers on Russian equipment now includes Z, V, O, X and A.
Some are commenting on how a big white O on top of a camouflaged vehicle may also function as a target.
This may or may not be correct:
Z Eastern Military District
Z in the box Russian army stationed in Crimea
O Russian army stationed in Belarus
V Russian Naval Infantry
X Kadyrov Chechnya
A Alpha Ground Special Forces

A lot of video showing Russian tanks and other equipment being targeted & destroyed by shelling and anti-tank missiles, with a few by UAV strikes. Footage shows that good hits are being made, but only a few of the available targets are acquired, suggesting that there's a lack of depth in the availability of weapons at that place & time.

One tweet I saw yesterday said that in the east of Ukraine, when Russian tanks go through a village, the last tank pauses and shoots to flatten the village. Said that was usual with Russian movements, so there'd be no one left to report on their movements.

Head of Anti-corruption agency of Ukraine sent a letter to Russian defence minister Shoigu thanking him for embezzlement of Russian army.

One aspect of this war is that there's almost a race to see who can supply the most equipment to Ukraine the fastest: those wanting to support Ukraine or Russian troops in Ukraine.

Third parties doing a good job of making verified counts from images of destroyed & captured Russian equipment. They're checking images for duplicate claims (images from different angles, moved, different days) by comparing both the vehicles and the ground they're on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0AjdFIx9PY
Japan claims sovereignty over Russia controlled Kuril Islands

'Take Up Arms And Strike At The Enemy': In Georgia, Calls Emerge To Retake South Ossetia And Abkhazia

https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-abkhazi ... 46764.html

'Ukraine is simply the first battle': Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark interview

"The Russian forces are defeatable"

"Let me ask you this question: if after Putin has digested Ukraine, he decides that he wants to finish his political objective by rolling NATO back out of the other countries of eastern Europe who are now hosting NATO troops, do we at that point say oh my goodness since you might have nuclear weapons against us we'll surrender. What do we do then. How likely do you think that would be that he would invade.

Our national leaders have to realize that Putin's objectives are not limited to Ukraine. This is about rolling back the westernization, the rule of law, the international order in Europe and the rest of the world. This is simply the first battle. It is the easiest of the battles to fight if our nations are unified and can face reality in this. If we fall back and are intimidated by Mr. Putin's threat of nuclear weapons, if there's nothing we can do to help Ukraine, then we'll be dealing with the next crisis on NATO's territory itself.
[Edit: and after Putin has had time to address the issues identified by the early & some repeated failures in the invasion of Ukraine.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFXArMvzRjg

p.s.
Two days ago I saw a number of Flightradar24 screenshots, including a pair of aircraft, one in Poland flying back and forth along it's eastern border, the other in Romania doing their northern & eastern boarders. I also saw an image showing a pair of B52 bombers in a circling pattern over Romania, "letting their presence being known".

[Canoe]

Something wrong here.
Only one officer.
Officer didn't beat him.
Officer didn't even get rude.

https://twitter.com/r_netsec/status/1501038916257734658

[Canoe]

Russia, this is not sanctions. This is not financial war. This was training exercises, but is now Special Financial Operations. The world is trying to save you.

Guinness Book of World Records
Year: 2022
Recipient: Vladimir Putin
Award: destroying your own country even faster than the country you're invading.

[The Rod]

The idea that these sanctions will destroy Russia is a fallacy. BRICS (of which the R stands for Russia...) and OPEC are still doing business with and in some cases outright supporting Putin and Russia. All we did was erect another Iron Curtain, this time between EU, North America and the rest of the world. Authoritative postering and antagonizing an angry teenager is the exact opposite of what you want to do if the goal is to get them to stop violently lashing out.

[Canoe]

... Authoritative postering and antagonizing an angry teenager is the exact opposite of what you want to do if the goal is to get them to stop violently lashing out.

You seriously believe that what is taking place has a parallel in an angry teenager lashing out?
Have you considered that the "angry teenager" may have goals to obtain with that violence?

[Canoe]

I think it is likely that the vast majority, if not all, of the Russian aircraft lost during this conflict were shot down by Ukrainian MANPADS and ground-based air defenses.

The "Ghost" plane of Kyiv has destroyed 49 Russian planes.

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1501924542259814407

[Edit: could be: true, propaganda, yanking Russia's trolls. MIG-29 is a tight-turning hot little fighter, but to have survived this long, and while flying enough to be taking out 49 others? As one comment says, "I want to believe."]

CIA releases photo of so-called "Ghost of Moscow", who took down Russian economy in one week!
[photo of Putin]
https://twitter.com/stonk_simian/status ... 0660237315
[alternate moniker: "Turd of Kremlin"]

Video of Russian 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm howitzers firing Krasnopol laser-guided artillery shells at targets near Kyiv.

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1502102539159883779
[Laser guided you say? So what they're hitting is what they're targeting? Wonder if that pro-Russia Ukrainian politician who was photographing Kyiv checkpoints has any lasers (like that pro-Russia monastery was caught pointing at a Ukrainian airfield).]

Russia says China refuses to supply aircraft parts after sanctions

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerosp ... 022-03-10/

True?

Air Astana sincerely regrets to advise that due the withdrawal of insurance coverage for commercial flights to, from and over the Russian Federation, all flights to the Russian Federation are suspended with immediate effect.

True?

A historic night at Versailles. After five hours of heated discussions EU leaders said yes to Ukrainian eurointegration. The process started. Now it is up to us and Ukrainians to accomplish it fast. Heroic Ukrainian nation deserves to know that they are welcome in EU.

https://twitter.com/GitanasNauseda/stat ... 2337871874

[The Rod]

shit. I was an angry teenager. I always had goals in mind when I lashed out. Still do as a matter of fact.

[The Rod]

To be clear, my position is absolutely not one of pro-Putin. I am not defending, apologizing for, excusing, sympathizing or otherwise justifying his actions.

I've had to clarify this on several occasions after my criticisms of NATO/western saber rattling and self-congratulatory sanctions were mistakenly interpreted as being pro-Putin. As the saying goes, "if you're not with us, you're against us"...

[Canoe]

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Satellite photos show Russian convoy outside Kyiv appears to have dispersed to surrounding areas.

https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/ ... 6952788994

Classic Russian convoy leaving convoy-mode has a history of preceeding their attack.
Some are saying the leading convoy units could be dispersing so they're no longer a sitting concentrated target (that appears to have been taking more hits recently), but instead they'll be a spread out target.

A somewhat longer news footage on the ground

If you don't recognise these tactics, then you haven't been paying attention. From Kharkiv's frontline, #Ukraine dcinfocus and Feras. With thanks to our local team. @BBCNews @BBCWorld Graphic content warning.

https://twitter.com/sommervilletv/statu ... 5490227206

[Canoe]

Multiple reports [most reworking the report hilighted below, but some from alternate sources] of one or two Russian jets flying in Ukrainian airspace striking a minor target or targets in Belarus, and claiming it's an Ukrainian attack. Details vary. Some identify the aircraft type. Others identify targets near a village.
* Claims are Russia is trying to give Belarus an excuse to join in attacking Ukraine, or an event that forces them to join in attacking Ukraine.
* "Sources" in Belarus say they've been unable to confirm a strike, either official or unofficial.
* Report that the Belarus MOD has stated that "nothing occured".

Examples

They really are a pair of fucking idiots. Do they really think anyone is going to believe them?

What we know:
The Belarus build up is clear hours before the false flag strike.
The Belarusian military are less motivated for this fight than the Russians, dissent at high levels.

https://twitter.com/PaulNiland/status/1 ... 1044845572

During his meeting with Putin, Lukashenko also claimed he had evidence that Ukraine was preparing to strike Belarus

https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/ ... 6641649667

Evident that the Belarusian cities bombing scenario will be played out in the next few hours/days. The propaganda will blame Ukraine for it. The goal is to push Belarusian troops into Ukraine. We urge the people & the military not to give in to provocations. This is not our war.

https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/stat ... 9950287874

Today, at 2:30pm, Ukrainian Border Guard Service reported that Russian planes left Dubrovytsia airfield in Belarus, flied into Ukrainian airspace, turned around over our towns of Horodychi and Tumeni, after which set a fire in Kopani town in Belarus.

https://twitter.com/ua_parliament/statu ... 9678943242

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine also reports about airstrikes on the territory of Belarus and publishes this video.

I can't independently verify it at this stage

https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/stat ... 0047986696

Possible false flag operation: Two Sukoi Su-25 aircraft have just attacked targets in Ukrainian & then in Belarusian territory close to a border guard checkpoint in Ukraine’s Rivne Oblast. This is potentially a Belarusian attempt to get a casus belli.

https://twitter.com/dbiggs0001/status/1 ... 6315505671

Reports are coming in of Belorussian artillery shelling their own territory on the border with Ukraine. Possibly to create a pretext for Belorus to join the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin is stuck and needs to widen the war.

https://twitter.com/radeksikorski/statu ... 6937266180

and as if things aren't crazy enough...

Ukrainian intelligence says Putin has issued an order to carry out a terrorist attack at the Chernobyl/ Chornobyl nuclear plant.

https://twitter.com/GicAriana/status/15 ... 4321029124

[Canoe]

Another twist within the Ukrainian cities and towns being bombarded by the Russians despite agreements to let civilians out along approved corridors. In addition to local Russian troops on the ground interfering with civilians evacuating, Russian troops are killing civilians trying to evacuate by car or by foot. Why? They're easier to rob...

Related, and days after images showing Russian troops invading Ukraine were supplied with rations that expired in 2015.

More and more reports from Ukrainians in occupied territory about Russian soldiers begging for food. While Russia's army notorious logistical incompetence may be part of it, it appears like soldiers - or their bosses - are also selling rations on the Russian black market.

One ration goes for 350 Rubles (USD 3) and can feed one for two days - a great deal for residents of the impoverished middle Russia.

https://twitter.com/christogrozev/statu ... 4695934979

Makes more credible the images showing unwounded dead Russian soldiers laying in the snow, claiming they'd been found frozen to death.

[Canoe]

Russian forces creeping closer to Kyiv.

Satellite images from today show family homes ablaze in the town Moshchun, less than five miles north of #Kyiv. A video from recent days verified by @nytimes also show destroyed homes on the ground in the same town.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/11 ... yiv-suburb

Today, I attended an emergency online conference of Ukrainian mayors from Mariupol, Kharkiv, Trostianets (Sumy region), Merefa (Kharkiv region), and Zhytomyr organized by the Ministry for Regional Development. What the mayors reported raises alarms on many different levels. A small thread

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1501627882925342723

[Canoe]

update

Multiple reports [most reworking the report hilighted below, but some from alternate sources] of one or two Russian jets flying in Ukrainian airspace striking a minor target or targets in Belarus, and claiming it's an Ukrainian attack. Details vary. Some identify the aircraft type. Others identify targets near a village.
* Claims are Russia is trying to give Belarus an excuse to join in attacking Ukraine, or an event that forces them to join in attacking Ukraine.
* "Sources" in Belarus say they've been unable to confirm a strike, either official or unofficial.
* Report that the Belarus MOD has stated that "nothing occured".
...

Residents of the Stolin district interviewed by Nashaniva confirm the fact of the incident near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. It seems that there were explosions, but not in Kopany, as it was reported at first, but in the direction of Buhlick. Here's what people say:

Belarus MOD denied it.

I already have to Belorussian friends confirm that Belorussian General Staff said "we didn't see nuffin"

Fairly clear that Luka was brought to Moscow and read a riot act, but the generals said "we are sitting this one out."

https://twitter.com/christogrozev/statu ... 9406279685

[Simon of the Playa]

1A99D228-2EEA-4419-B5D7-D4A2D8EA4380.jpeg

[Simon of the Playa]

"But the digital realm is where Russia found most success in opening new fronts in its disinformation war. Social media, quasi-legitimate blogs, and bots reached ordinary people en masse all the time. With skill and care, Russian operatives tested and retested how best to polarize audiences. Using different platforms, content, and messaging, they built up a profile of users for their targeting purposes and then reflected back to them a picture of the world that would make them angry, frightened, and despairing—a picture that only exists online. For evidence of this, look no further than recent discourse in the West, where the Kremlin has been amplifying everything from climate denialism to the anti-vaxx movement to Qanon. All these things already existed but were the preserve of conspiracy theorists, quacks, and pranksters—now millions believe, in the face reality, that climate change was made up by Green extremists, that “they” (whether it be Bill Gates, George Soros, or the World Economic Forum) are using vaccines to microchip people, that there's a satanic cabal of baby-eaters in Washington, or all of the above."

https://apple.news/AQ310CxHyS9OBs7203IKL1g

[Canoe]

After the tweets that were flying around on the subject, there's this.
Welcome to Russian politics.

Kremlin arrests FSB chiefs in fallout from Ukraine chaos

Andrei Soldatov, who is co-founder and editor of Agentura, an investigative website that monitors the FSB and other agencies, said that sources from within FSB had confirmed the detention of both men.

Vladimir Osechkin, an exiled Russian human rights activist, also confirmed the arrests. He added that FSB officers had carried out searches at more than 20 addresses around Moscow of colleagues suspected of being in contact
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/krem ... -92w0829c5

“The formal basis for conducting these searches is the accusation of the embezzlement of funds earmarked for subversive activities in Ukraine,” Osechkin said. “The real reason is unreliable, incomplete and partially false information about the political situation in Ukraine”

However, he added: “The problem is that it is too risky for superiors to tell Putin what he doesn’t want to hear, so they tailor their information. We can’t rule out the fact that the intelligence they gathered on the ground was in fact very good"

[Canoe]

Russian official says ships carrying weapons to Ukraine will be considered ‘legitimate military targets'
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has told Russian state television that “pumping up [Ukraine] with weapons from a whole range of countries” would “turn these convoys into legitimate military targets”. Experts have expressed fears that such an attack could escalate the war. Shelling has continued overnight in several Ukrainian cities, with Russian forces 25km from the centre of Kyiv, according to the British military.

https://twitter.com/i/events/1483255084750282753

[Simon of the Playa]

"Flash forward to a new war in Europe and a new diabolical way to confuse the populace of Vladimir Putin’s Russia: a raft of Russian-language videos that bill themselves as fact-checks of falsehoods by Ukrainian propagandists — but are actually fakes themselves.
This is next-level disinformation, a mind-bending 21st-century version of what Arendt warned us about.
One video pushed by pro-Russian sources on social media made a big show of dunking on footage of a huge explosion in an urban area — claiming that while Ukrainian propagandists had tried to present it as a recent missile strike in Kharkiv, it was actually an unrelated explosion from 2017, according to an analysis by the investigative news outlet ProPublica."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/20 ... formation/

[Canoe]

From 2015. Watch to the end...

this...