Military Madness > Putin puts Nuclear forces on alert; Nuclear threat - Is Liz Truss to blame? SAS testifies to Afghan atrocity

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Putin Orders Russian Nuclear Deterrence Forces to Be on High Alert

Zelensky announces talks will be held in Belarus

By Jack Phillips 

February 27, 2022

Epoch Times

President Vladimir Putin put his country’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert on Sunday, announcing the move in a televised meeting with top ministers, coming as Russian troops and tanks continue to wage a conflict in Ukraine.

“Western countries are not only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic area. I’m speaking about the illegitimate sanctions that everyone is well aware of. However, the top officials of the leading NATO countries also make aggressive statements against our country as well,” Putin said on Sunday, according to state-run media.

As a result, Putin said that he has ordered “the minister of Defense and the chief of the general staff [of the Russian armed forces] to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty,” according to televised comments he made. The deterrence forces include command of Russia’s vast arsenal of nuclear weapons.

It is not immediately clear what the “special mode of combat duty” means. Previously, when Putin announced the Russian invasion earlier this week, he warned that if other countries get involved, they will face “consequences they have never seen.”

Later on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said via social media that he will send a delegation to the Ukraine-Belarus border to hold talks with Russian officials “without preconditions” about the ongoing conflict. Zelensky said he spoke with Belarus’s leadership and said they would allow the negotiations.

But Putin’s order means Russia’s nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch, raising the threat that the tensions between Moscow and NATO could boil over into nuclear strikes.

Ukrainian service members look for unexploded shells after fighting with Russian forces in Kyiv,

Ukraine, on Feb. 26, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

During a CBS News appearance, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, responded to Putin’s statement on Sunday.

“President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable,” Thomas-Greenfield said on Sunday morning. “And we have to continue to condemn his actions in the most strong, strongest possible way.”

Also Sunday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Putin, warned the West against imposing tough sanctions on Russia and Belarus, claiming that the measures could push Russia into a “third world war.”

Ukrainian troops inspect a site following a Russian airstrike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 26, 2022.

(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

“Now there is a lot of talk against the banking sector. Gas, oil, SWIFT. It’s worse than war. This is pushing Russia into a third world war,” Lukashenko told local state media, referring to sanctions.

The alarming step came as street fighting broke out in Ukraine’s second-largest city and Russian troops squeezed strategic ports in the country’s south, advances that appeared to mark a new phase of Russia’s invasion following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere in the country.

The capital, Kyiv, was eerily quiet after huge explosions lit up the morning sky and authorities reported blasts at one of the airports. Only an occasional car appeared on a deserted main boulevard as a strict 39-hour curfew kept people off the streets. Terrified residents instead hunkered down in homes, underground garages, and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale Russian assault.

“The past night was tough–more shelling, more bombing of residential areas and civilian infrastructure,” Zelensky remarked. “There is not a single facility in the country that the occupiers wouldn’t consider as admissible targets.”

Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and Russian troops roaming the city in small groups. One showed Ukrainian troops firing at the Russians and damaged Russian light utility vehicles abandoned nearby.

Russia blames UK FM for elevated nuclear alert

The British foreign secretary made “unacceptable” statements on “clashes”

between NATO and Russia, Putin’s spokesman said

Liz Truss during a panel discussion at the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 19, 2022 © Getty Images / Ronald Wittek

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin placed Russia’s deterrence forces – including nuclear weapons – on high alert in response to statements by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on potential conflict between NATO and Moscow. 

“Statements were made by various representatives at various levels on possible altercations or even collisions and clashes between NATO and Russia,” Peskov told reporters. “We believe that such statements are absolutely unacceptable. I would not call the authors of these statements by name, although it was the British foreign minister.”

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Truss said that “if we don't stop Putin in Ukraine, we are going to see others under threat: the Baltics, Poland, Moldova, and it could end up in a conflict with NATO. We do not want to go there.” Truss did not specify how the UK could “stop” Russia in Ukraine, although the British government has already sent anti-tank weapons and other “lethal aid” to Kiev.

When she made that statement I immediately thought it to be unwise, if not colossally stupid. And then I remembered, 'Oh, it's Liz Truss!'

However, a Foreign Office source told the BBC on Monday: “I don't think anything Liz has said warrants that sort of rhetoric or escalation,” adding that Truss has always spoken of NATO – which was formed with the explicit goal of opposing the Soviet Union – as a  “defensive alliance.”

While Putin’s announcement does not signal any intent to use nuclear weapons, it has been received in the West as a reminder of the importance Moscow places on Ukraine, and its determination to keep the country out of NATO. Since the end of the Cold War, successive Russian leaders have consistently opposed the eastward expansion of the alliance, and Moscow considers the idea of a NATO-armed Ukraine on its borders an existential security threat.

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki condemned Putin’s decision to raise the alert level, accusing the Russian president of “manufacturing threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression.”

Someone forgot to tell Liz Truss that these threats don't exist.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Russia’s operation is still underway, and fighting has taken place in the cities of Kharkov, Mariupol, and on the outskirts of Kiev. Tentative negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials took place in Belarus on Monday.

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Ex-SAS soldier testifies to atrocities committed in Afghanistan

Soldier kicked unarmed Afghan man off cliff before ordering him shot - witness

FILE PHOTO © Getty Images / Simon O'Dwyer

An Australian special forces soldier has testified to atrocities committed by his comrade as part of an unfolding defamation lawsuit against several Australian media outlets. Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked an unarmed, handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering his subordinates to finish him off, a former colleague listed in court records as “Person 4” revealed in court on Monday.

‘We were fighting & in danger. To now say that’s a war crime makes me really angry’ – is Aussie SAS killer a hero or a villain?

“I saw the individual’s face strike a large rock and sustain a serious injury. It knocked out a number of his teeth including his front teeth,” the unnamed SAS fighter told a federal court after describing how Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked the unarmed man off a cliff. He ultimately ordered his underlings to drag the “severely injured” man under a tree and shoot him dead, the man testified.

The grisly execution allegedly took place in the village of Darwan on September 11, 2012 following a failed attempt to hunt down a “rogue Afghan soldier” named Hekmatullah who had supposedly killed three Australians. As the SAS came up empty-handed, they found the alleged victim, a visiting farmer named Ali Jan, and arrested him. Roberts-Smith and another servicemember manhandled him down a cliff, where he fell and hit a “large rock,” sustaining “serious facial injury,” according to Person 4.

Person 4 heard shooting and turned around to see the Afghan farmer had been killed; Roberts-Smith then allegedly asked the witness for his camera in order to photograph the dead man with a type of radio used by Afghan insurgents to communicate - a radio Person 4 claimed the farmer had not been carrying “to [his] knowledge” but had come from another man killed by Roberts-Smith previously.

The narrative emerged as Roberts-Smith has sued multiple Australian media outlets, including the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Canberra Times. The former soldier accused the media of defaming him with wrongful accusations of war crimes and other acts of wrongdoing - from bullying and domestic violence to murder.

Roberts-Smith has denied all charges. “There was no cliff…there was no kick,” he told the court last July, insisting the dead man had been an enemy “spotter” killed for legitimate reasons. Person 4, who has been challenged regarding his refusal to testify about another incident in which he was seen “standing over a dead Afghan prisoner” after another witness heard shots fired, will be cross-examined on Tuesday. 

An ongoing investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, based on the Brereton report, which found enough “credible information” to implicate 25 Australian Defense Force members in the illegal killing of 39 Afghan individuals, has been delayed following the collapse of the Afghan government. While the Taliban could be reasonably expected to cooperate with such an inquiry, the reluctance of other countries to recognize the Islamic militant group as a legitimate governing body is expected to hinder the proceedings. 

Sanders-linked US group blasts NATO’s ‘imperialist expansion’

The Democratic Socialists of America claimed the US and NATO

“set the stage for this conflict”

NATO's Secretary General meets Russia's Deputy Defence Minister and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

© NATO / POOL / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

In a statement released on Saturday, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) blamed actions by the US and NATO for having helped to spark the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sparking condemnation from other Democrats.

“DSA reaffirms our call for the US to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict,” the group said in a press release.

“While the failures of neoliberal order are clear to everyone, the ruling class is trying to build a new world, through a dystopic transition grounded in militarism, imperialism, and war. Socialists have a duty to build an alternative,” DSA added, ending their statement by declaring “no war but class war.”

Condemning “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and calling for “immediate diplomacy and de-escalation to resolve this crisis,” DSA warned the working classes “will undoubtedly bear the brunt of this war.”

DSA is the largest socialist organization in the United States, with over 92,000 members, including high-profile Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. With chapters in all 50 states, it has previously endorsed Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Kerry, notably choosing not to endorse current President Joe Biden.

The DSA’s position faced immediate condemnation from other Democrats from different wings of the party, who sought to reaffirm their commitment to America’s current alliances.

And, not to mention, Deep State!

The DSA’s position faced immediate condemnation from fellow Democrats from the main party, who sought to reaffirm their commitment to America’s current alliances.

The White House Rapid Response Director, Mike Gwin, swiftly responded with a one-word statement, describing DSA's remarks as "shameful," calling on the group to re-evaluate why it "referred to the deaths of dozens of Ukrainians seeking democracy and basic freedoms in 2014 as a ‘coup’."

Military veteran and current congressional candidate Max Rose stated that he was “deeply concerned” by DSA’s statement, adding that it’s “time to double down on our alliances” and “punish Russia with crippling and unprecedented sanctions.”

Responding to Rose’s remarks, Tom Suozzi, a Democratic candidate for Governor of New York, declared “I adamantly oppose the DSA's statement calling on the US to leave NATO.”

NATO's actions toward Russia are very aggressive, pressuring them into this war. NATO is no longer a defensive force but the cause of much anxiety and destruction in Europe. Everyone should leave NATO.

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Russia Invades Ukraine > The most likely scenario to end the war

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Putin Has Never Lost a War. Here Is How He'll Win In Ukraine

BY BILL POWELL AND NAVEED JAMALI

Newsweek

ON 02/26/22 AT 6:00 AM EST

As the battle of wills and might between Russia and the west over the fate of Ukraine unfolds, there is one key fact to bear in mind: Vladimir Putin has never lost a war. During past conflicts in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Crimea over his two decades in power, Putin succeeded by giving his armed forces clear, achievable military objectives that would allow him to declare victory, credibly, in the eyes of the Russian people and a wary, watching world. His latest initiative in Ukraine is unlikely to be any different.

Despite months of military build-up along Ukraine's borders and repeated warnings from the Biden administration that an incursion could happen at any time, the February 24 pre-dawn bombing campaign that kicked off Europe's first land war in decades seemed to come as a surprise to many Ukrainians. In major cities across a country the size of the state of Texas, stunned citizens, lulled into complacency by their president's repeated reassurances that Russia would not invade, watched and listened to the sound of thunderous explosions targeting Ukrainian military bases, airports and command and control centers. Within 24 hours, the conflict spread rapidly, with Russian tanks and troops moving swiftly toward Kyiv, the capital; fierce battles in Kharkiv, the second largest city; and fighting around Chernobyl, the site of the disastrous 1986 nuclear reactor meltdown. Shock and awe, Russian style.

Despite repeated warnings that an invasion was imminent, many Ukrainians were shocked by the arrival of Russian troops.

 Here, members of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces participate in a drill days before the bombings began.

ETHAN SWOPE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY

In an instant, Russian President Putin's invasion of Ukraine destroyed the post Cold War security order in Europe—one centered, to Russia's fury, by an often-expanding NATO alliance. Analysts expect that, once Kyiv falls, the military aggression will give way to a political settlement that puts a Russia-friendly government in place. By February 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was considering an invitation from Moscow to hold "neutrality" talks in neighboring Belarus. If those talks happen, Putin will then be able to pull back troops and end the conflict—while having dealt the West a humiliating blow.

And that, military and Russia experts agree, may be the real point.

Ukraine, of course, is not a NATO member; the possibility that it might join the Alliance some day, as other countries that were once part of the old Soviet bloc have done, is a key issue in the current conflict. Putin's actions, a brazen defiance in the face of repeated warnings and threats of sanctions from U.S. President Joe Biden and western allies, now make it a certainty, if it wasn't before, that membership will never happen. Putin's aggression will also serve as a stark warning to countries formerly part of the Soviet Union of the possible repercussions of getting too cozy with the West.

The post Soviet status quo in Eastern Europe was one "that [Putin] never accepted," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor in chief of Russia in Global Affairs, a Moscow-based foreign policy journal. "It ate at him. He believes Russia was treated [by the West] as a second class citizen after the Soviet Union fell."

Now, western diplomats and intelligence officials believe, Putin seeks to decapitate the western-leaning leadership in Kyiv headed by Zelensky and replace it with a government that will be loyal to "the new Tsar," as former Estonian President Toomas Ilves calls Putin. That could happen, U.S. intelligence officials tell Newsweek, within days. Putin does not want, nor does he need, to occupy the entire country to accomplish his greater goals, intelligence analysts and officials say. As Ilves puts it, "He wants a puppet state like Belarus," another former Soviet province just north of Ukraine, and from which troops poured into Ukraine as the Russian bombing ramped up. With a new reality on the ground in Eastern Europe, Ilves continues, "Putin then wants to rewrite the security rules of the road between him and NATO."

Of course, NATO could have agreed to new security rules, or even old security rules and completely avoided this mess, but they stubbornly refused to. The question is, why did NATO push so hard to provoke this situation when it so easily could have been avoided?

Ukraine itself appears to share at least part of that view. A statement from Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine's presidential chief of staff, and shared with Newsweek by Ukraine's embassy in Washington, outlined what Kyiv suspected were Moscow's goals. "The Office of the President of Ukraine believes the Russian federation has two tactical goals—to seize territories and attack the legitimate political leadership of Ukraine in order to spread chaos and [to] install a marionette government that would sign a peace deal on bilateral relations with Russia," Podolyak said.

Is it possible that Putin would settle for keeping the Zelensky government if there is a firm agreement to stay out of NATO?

A man clears debris at a damaged residential building at Koshytsa Street, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv,

where a military shell allegedly hit, on February 25, 2022. DANIEL LEAL/AFP/GETTY

A United States that thought it was pivoting to Asia, and focusing on China—a country that is its preeminent rival going forward—has now been dragged back to Eastern Europe, where for centuries so much blood has been spilled. Putin now has the world's full, undivided attention, in the same way that every Secretary General in the Soviet era did. In chilling televised remarks after the invasion had begun, Putin said, "whoever tries to interfere [in Ukraine] should know that Russia's response will be immediate, and will lead to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history." Putin's subsequent announcement that he was putting Russia's nuclear forces on alerts, underscored the threat.

Russia is now back in the limelight, a nation that is demonstrating, with a display of military might, that it remains a Great Power. Which is precisely where Putin wants his nation to be. He believes Russia should at all times command respect from the rest of the world, "and when it doesn't command respect, it should command fear," as Lukyanov of Russia in Global Affairs puts it.

Mission accomplished. As Rose Gottemoeller, former deputy secretary general of NATO and a long time Russia watcher characterized it recently on the CBS podcast Intelligence Matters, "This is [Putin's] 'look at me' moment."

One thing seems apparent - the war will end on Putin's terms and on nobody else's. Anyone who tries to change that will cause intolerable damage.

Ozzone 6-7 > The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. But be sure you abide in Him.

 

Bits and Bites from Around the World > Bride abandons bald groom; Camel hugs old friend

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It must be love...

India: Bride refuses to marry after finding groom wearing a wig

No amount of persuasion from her family could convince bride to reconsider

Published:  February 25, 2022 10:27

IANS

  

Image Credit: Pixabay

Etawah:  bride refused to marry the groom on the wedding day after she saw him wearing a wig.

The incident took place in the Bharthana area of the Etawah district on Wednesday night.

The groom, Ajay Kumar, had to return home without getting married.

According to reports, when the garland exchange ceremony was underway, the bride noticed that Ajay was extra cautious and repeatedly adjusting his traditional headgear.

Someone told the bride that the groom was actually bald and was wearing a wig on his head. The bride fainted and fell on the stage.

Later, when she regained consciousness, she refused to marry the groom.

No amount of persuasion from her family could convince her and the baraat finally retuned without the bride.

It really is love...

Camel hugs ex-owner upon meeting him, refuses to let go

Published:  February 14, 2022 13:48

Tawfiq Nasrallah, Senior News Editor

Dubai: A video clip of camel "hugging" its ex-owner has gone viral on social media across Saudi Arabia.

According to media reports, a Saudi man sold his camel to someone else and after sometime, it so happened that the ex-owner went to check on his old camel. However, he was surprised to see the camel's reaction.

The video also shows the camel curling its neck around the man and refusing to let go. It was reported that someone tried to pull the camel away but it refused.

Camels are the national animal of Saudi Arabia and are native to the Arabian Peninsula, with a long history of accompanying Saudis as far back as time recorded, according to tourism website Visit Saudi.

Often deemed as the ‘ship of the desert’ and ‘Ata Allah’ (which translates to the ‘Gift of God’), camels are a very important part of Saudi cultural heritage because they used to be an essential part of the lives of people before cars arrived.

For centuries, camels provided them with a lot of basic life necessities such as transport, milk, food, and clothing.

Bits and Bites from Around the World > Man tells 4 y/o to shoot cops; Info points to murder-suicide by pilot of MH370

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Four-year-old told to fire gun at officers – police

The child’s parent had allegedly been angered over an incorrect order

at a McDonald’s drive-through in the US state of Utah 

FILE PHOTO © Getty Images / anadorado

A father told his four-year-old child to fire a gun at officers following a dispute over a McDonald’s order, police in Utah have said. The gun was seized from the child just as it was fired. 

The incident happened on Monday lunchtime at a drive-through restaurant in Midvale, in suburban Salt Lake City. The unidentified 21-year-old man had begun arguing with staff, demanding his order be corrected while brandishing a gun in their direction, Unified Police spokeswoman Sergeant Melody Cutler told the media. 

Staff corrected his order, asked him to move into a waiting area, and called the police. The disgruntled customer apparently failed to cooperate with the attending officers and had to be pulled from his vehicle. The agents then spotted the child holding the gun, which was pointed towards them. An officer managed to push the gun to one side as it was fired, receiving a minor injury to his arm as he did so.

According to Sgt Cutler, the officer in question shouted “Kid!”, alerting his colleagues not to fire back at the four-year-old. A witness informed the police that they had heard the father tell the child, who was in the backseat with a three-year-old sibling, to shoot at the cops, Cutler said.

The father remains in custody and Unified Police say the incident is currently an “active investigation.”

The idiot should never be allowed near his children again. As I see it, it was attempted murder by proxy, of a cop, or more than one. 

Pilot's baffling 22 minute manoeuvre which could hold the key

to proving MH370 mystery WAS a murder-suicide

On March 8 in 2014, the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from view

By ANDREW PRENTICE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 09:16 EST, 23 February 2022

A bizarre 22-minute manoeuvre could prove the doomed MH370 flight was actually a murder-suicide plot by one of the pilots, a top Australian pilot has claimed.

On March 8 in 2014, the Malaysian Airlines plane disappeared from the skies along with 239 people on board - including six Australians.

They included Queensland couples Catherine and Robert Lawton as well as Mary and Rodney Burrows.

Many wild theories have since followed, but now a flight holding pattern - detected through an invisible trail - may finally provide closure for those who lost loved ones.

In Wednesday night's Sky News documentary MH370: The Final Search, a number of aviation leaders stated it was deliberate sabotage from senior flight Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah - and said a 22-minute-long holding pattern proved it.

'My theory has always been that it was the captain who is responsible …probably as a political protest,' aviation writer and former Qantas Captain Mike Glynn said. 

In Wednesday night's Sky News documentary MH370: The Final Search, a number of aviation experts

stated their belief it was deliberate sabotage from senior flight Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah

This graphic shows the predicted location for MH370's wreckage at the bottom of the Indian Ocean

On March 8 in 2014, the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from the skies with 239 people on board

To support his claim, Mr Glynn pointed to the 'holding pattern' on MH370 from 3.12am onwards.

A holding pattern is where a plane holds a particular flight path while awaiting approval to land, but in this case it was done mid-flight. 

He said there was 'no reason' for the aircraft to engage in the pattern mid-flight, before adding there is a 'possibility' it was the timeframe Mr Shah used as a 'form of negotiation.'

Australian Danica Weeks, whose husband Paul was on board the flight, said the 22-minute holding pattern revelation was 'overwhelming' and that Captain Shah 'must've been talking to someone… it's just a complete cover up.'

Mr Glynn went on to claim Captain Shah, a married father of three, was enraged after Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s Opposition Leader at the time of the crash in 2014, was convicted of sodomy the day before MH370 disappeared.

Shah was said to be an avid supporter of Ibrahim, and the pilot's Facebook account was also labelled a 'treasure trove' of political activity and anti-government sentiment.

Leading aviation safety investigator and retired pilot, John Cox, also said the demise of MH370 was no accident.

Author and journalist Ean Higgins agreed, stating Mr Shah had enough motivation if he wanted to take the 'drastic action.'

The pilot did have a supporter in Malaysia Airlines Crisis Director Fuad Sharuji, who expressed his doubt over a possible plane hijack.

The final point of control tower contact with flight MH370 almost eight years ago was over the South China Sea, the location where the search first launched following the disappearance, which generated international headlines.

However, it soon became apparent the plane had made its way back in the direction of Malaysia.

The aircraft then flew over the Malay peninsula, went around the island of Penang and up the Malacca Strait and eventually over the southern Indian Ocean.

Mr Glynn went on to state the use of Weak Signal Propagation Report (WSPR), could help locate the final remains of the plane.

The modern technology is a network of signals that use amateur or hand radios, and has been in use since 2009.

The pilot believes MH370 may have been tracked by WSPR - and that could pinpoint where the remains are.

'It is a game changer,' he said.

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Russia Invades Ukraine

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Russia attacks Ukraine; peace in Europe ‘shattered’

By YURAS KARMANAU, JIM HEINTZ, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and DASHA LITVINOVA

5 minutes ago

A woman holds her baby inside a bus as they leave Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine on Thursday, hitting cities and bases with airstrikes or shelling, as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions in a move that could rewrite the world’s geopolitical landscape. Ukraine’s government pleaded for help as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee.

President Vladimir Putin ignored global condemnation and cascading new sanctions as he unleashed the largest ground war in Europe in decades, and chillingly referred to his country’s nuclear arsenal. He threatened any country trying to interfere with “consequences you have never seen.”

Ukrainian officials said their forces were battling Russians on multiple fronts, and had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

“Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won’t give up its freedom,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted.

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions against Russia, saying Putin “chose this war” and that his country would bear the consequences of his action.

The sanctions will target Russian banks, oligarchs, state-controlled companies and high-tech sectors, he said, adding they were designed not to disrupt global energy markets. Russian oil and natural gas exports are vital energy sources for Europe.

Zelenskyy urged the U.S. and West to go further and cut the Russians from the SWIFT system, a key financial network that connects thousands of banks around the world. The White House has been reluctant to immediately cut Russia from SWIFT, worried it could cause enormous economic problems in Europe and elsewhere in the West.

Zelenskyy, who earlier cut diplomatic ties with Moscow and declared martial law, described Russian forces advancing on a series fronts, including a “difficult situation” developing in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, just over 20 kilometers away from the eastern border with Russia, and Russian troops slowly advancing from the north on the city of Chernihiv. He said a Russian airborne unit at an airport just outside Kyiv, the capital, was being destroyed.

He appealed to global leaders, saying that “if you don’t help us now, if you fail to offer a powerful assistance to Ukraine, tomorrow the war will knock on your door.”

Both sides claimed to have destroyed some of the other’s aircraft and military hardware, though little of that could be confirmed.

Hours after the invasion began, Russian forces seized control of the zone around the now-unused Chernobyl plant after a fierce battle, Zelenskyy adviser Myhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press.

A Ukrainian official said Russian shelling hit a radioactive waste repository and an increase in radiation levels was reported. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

A nuclear reactor at the plant 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, exploded in 1986, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe. The damaged reactor was covered by a protective shelter several years ago to prevent radiation leaks.

“This is one of the most serious threats to Europe today,” Podolyak said.

The chief of the NATO alliance said the “brutal act of war” shattered peace in Europe, joining a chorus of world leaders who decried the attack, which could cause massive casualties, topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government and upend the post-Cold War security order. The conflict was already shaking global financial markets: Stocks plunged and oil prices soared amid concerns that heating bills and food prices would skyrocket.

Condemnation rained down not only from the U.S. and Europe, but from South Korea, Australia and beyond — and many governments readied new sanctions. Even friendly leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orban sought to distance themselves from Putin. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he aimed to cut off Russia from the U.K.’s financial markets as he announced sanctions in response to the invasion.

As the first major world leader to make a big move, Johnson announced a freeze on the assets of all large Russian banks and plans to bar Russian companies and the Kremlin from raising money on British markets.

Johnson said of Putin: “Now we see him for what he is — a bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest.”

A senior U.S. official said the U.N. Security Council was expected to vote Friday on a resolution condemning Russia for the attack and demanding the immediate withdrawal of its forces. The vote will proceed even though the legally binding measure will almost certainly be vetoed by Russia, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

While some nervous Europeans speculated about a possible new world war, the U.S. and its NATO partners have shown no indication they would send troops into Ukraine, fearing that would risk a larger war. They instead mobilized troops and equipment around Ukraine’s western flank — as Ukraine pleaded for defense assistance and help protecting its airspace.

NATO also reinforced its members in Eastern Europe as a precaution.

“Make no mistake: We will defend every ally against any attack on every inch of NATO territory,” said NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Biden said the U.S. was deploying additional forces to Germany to bolster NATO.

The first attacks came from the air. Ukrainian authorities later described ground invasions in multiple regions, and border guards released video of a line of Russian military vehicles crossing into Ukraine’s government-held territory. European authorities declared the country’s airspace an active conflict zone.

It wasn’t until late Thursday afternoon that Russia confirmed that its ground forces had moved into Ukraine, saying they’d crossed over from Crimea, the southern region that Russia annexed in 2014.

After weeks of denying plans to invade, Putin launched the operation on a country the size of Texas that has increasingly tilted toward the democratic West and away from Moscow’s sway. The autocratic leader made clear earlier this week that he sees no reason for Ukraine to exist, raising fears of possible broader conflict in the vast space that the Soviet Union once ruled. Putin denied plans to occupy Ukraine, but his ultimate goals remain hazy.

Ukrainians who had long braced for the prospect of an assault were urged to shelter in place and not to panic.

“Until the very last moment, I didn’t believe it would happen. I just pushed away these thoughts,” said a terrified Anna Dovnya in Kyiv, watching soldiers and police remove shrapnel from an exploded shell. “We have lost all faith.”

With social media amplifying a torrent of military claims and counter-claims, it was difficult to determine exactly what was happening on the ground.

AP reporters saw or confirmed explosions in the capital, in Mariupol on the Azov Sea, Kharkiv in the east and beyond. AP confirmed video showing Russian military vehicles crossing into Ukrainian-held territory in the north from Belarus and from Russian-annexed Crimea in the south.

Russia and Ukraine made competing claims about damage they had inflicted. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had destroyed scores of Ukrainian air bases, military facilities and drones, and confirmed the loss of a Su-25 attack jet, blaming “pilot error.” It said it was not targeting cities, but using precision weapons and claimed that “there is no threat to civilian population.”

Ukraine’s armed forces reported at least 40 soldiers dead, and said a military plane carrying 14 people crashed south of Kyiv.

Poland’s military increased its readiness level, and Lithuania and Moldova moved toward doing the same. Border crossings increased from Ukraine to Poland, which prepared centers for refugees.

Putin justified his actions in an overnight televised address, asserting the attack was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine — a false claim the U.S. predicted he would make as a pretext for invasion. He accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia’s demands to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and for security guarantees.

He called the military action a “forced measure” stemming from rising security risks for Russia.

Anticipating international condemnation and countermeasures, Putin issued a stark warning to other countries not to meddle.

In a reminder of Russia’s nuclear power, he warned that “no one should have any doubts that a direct attack on our country will lead to the destruction and horrible consequences for any potential aggressor.”

Among Putin’s pledges was to “denazify” Ukraine. World War II looms large in Russia, after the Soviet Union suffered more deaths than any country while fighting Adolf Hitler’s forces.

The Kremlin has painted members of Ukrainian right-wing groups as neo-Nazis, exploiting their admiration for WWII-era Ukrainian nationalist leaders who sided with the Nazis. Ukraine is now led by a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and angrily dismissed those claims.

Hours before the invasion, Zelenskyy rejected Moscow’s claims that Ukraine poses a threat to Russia and made a passionate plea for peace.

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Isachenkov and Litvinova reported from Moscow. Angela Charlton in Paris; Geir Moulson and Frank Jordans in Berlin; Raf Casert and Lorne Cook in Brussels; Nic Dumitrache in Mariupol, Ukraine, Inna Varennytsia in eastern Ukraine; and Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Eric Tucker, Nomaan Merchant, Ellen Knickmeyer, Zeke Miller, Chris Megerian and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Corruption is Everywhere > Would you believe Credit-Suisse? How about the King of Jordan? Swiss could be blacklisted by EU

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Credit Suisse faces charges in cocaine trafficking trial

The drug money laundering case centers on the bank’s ties with a criminal ring

© Getty Images / Medioimages

A Swiss criminal court opened trial proceedings on Monday against Credit Suisse, accusing the bank of failing to do enough to stop money laundering linked to drug trafficking by a Bulgarian criminal organization. Associated Press reports that the gang employed a wrestler who once hauled millions in currency by car to Switzerland.

The names of the defendants have not been made public, to protect their privacy, but Swiss prosecutors identified Credit Suisse by name in an indictment announced in December 2020.

The charge, which centers on a former manager at the Swiss bank and two members of the criminal ring, follows a years-long investigation into allegations of wrongdoing that apparently took place between 2004 and 2008.

According to AP, the case against the bank revolves around charges that it “did not take all necessary measures to halt the infraction of money laundering” by one of its employees.

Credit Suisse has denied any wrongdoing, saying during the hearing on Monday that it “unreservedly rejects as meritless all allegations in this legacy matter raised against it and is convinced that its former employee is innocent.” The bank added that it “will defend itself vigorously in court.”

The Swiss attorney general’s office said that, after the fall of communism, top-level athletes in Bulgaria “turned towards other sources of income, and numerous wrestlers received approaches from mafia clans.” Thus, one unnamed wrestler aimed to cash in by trafficking tons of cocaine through “mules” from South America to Europe by air and sea and then laundering the profits.

The proceeds from the drug sales entered Swiss bank accounts from 2004 to at least 2007 and were used to buy real estate in Bulgaria and Switzerland in particular, court proceedings show.

Prosecutors said that the wrestler’s “main offense was committed in February 2006, when he transported the equivalent of more than four million Swiss francs (over $4 million) in small denomination notes hidden in his car from Barcelona to Switzerland.”

They also said that a former Credit Suisse executive in charge of business relations with the criminal organization carried out transactions for the ring despite “strong indications that the funds were of criminal origin.”

The executive is accused of preventing the identification of the origin of the funds, which ultimately involved transactions of more than 140 million Swiss francs (about $150 million).

Credit Suisse has consistently rejected the allegations and has said the court could order the “disgorgement of profits” and a maximum fine of about $5 million.

Credit Suisse ignored murders while laundering cocaine cash,

banker testifies

Bank management accused at trial of knowingly accepting money from criminal activities

© Getty Images / Michaela Begsteiger

A former Credit Suisse banker, who had been previously accused of money laundering, has reportedly told a Swiss court that top management at the bank knew about murders and cocaine smuggling connected to a Bulgarian gang, but continued managing cash that is now at the center of a criminal trial.

The Zurich-based banking giant and one of its former employees are facing charges for failing to tackle money-laundering practices connected to drug trafficking by a Bulgarian criminal syndicate. The gang allegedly managed to launder millions of euros, with some of it delivered to the bank in suitcases stuffed with cash.

Credit Suisse has denied any wrongdoing and stood by its former bankers accused. The trial began last week and is scheduled to end in early March.

The case hinges on illegal relations established between Switzerland’s second-largest bank and former Bulgarian wrestler Evelin Banev and multiple associates, two of whom are also charged in the case. The Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang allegedly employed Banev, who is accused of hauling millions in currency by car to Switzerland. The events reportedly unfolded between 2004 and 2008.

In an email from June 2005 read out in court last week, the banker played down press reports linking the murder of one of Banev’s associates a month earlier with drug trafficking.

“After the homicide we have decided to continue the business relationships,” the banker wrote in the email. “The said (short and imprecise) article linking the murder to Spanish cocaine… has not been confirmed.”

Last week, Banev’s attorney said in Sofia that his client denied any involvement in laundering money from drug trafficking through Credit Suisse. Meanwhile, the former wrestler was convicted of drug trafficking in Italy in 2017 and money laundering in Bulgaria in 2018. Banev was detained in September in Ukraine after Bulgaria and Romania sought his arrest.

The banker accused of helping conceal the criminal origins of the money, totaling more than 146 million Swiss francs in transactions, appeared in Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona with her managers, who gave evidence. The banker’s identity cannot be reported under Swiss privacy rules.

Credit Suisse disputes the illegal origin of the money, according to a source close to the bank quoted by Reuters. The source also claims that Banev and his circle operated legitimate businesses in construction, leasing, and hotels.

King hid personal wealth in Credit Suisse accounts – media

Leaked data from the Swiss bank show King of Jordan Abdullah II

placed his personal funds in at least six accounts

Jordan's King Abdullah II attends the State opening of the Parliament. © Jordan Pix / Getty Images

Jordan’s monarch, King Abdullah II, has been named in the leaked trove of data from Credit Suisse bank, as the holder of at least six accounts where he has housed millions of dollars in personal wealth, The Guardian reported on Monday. Alongside Abdullah’s own accounts, his wife, Queen Rania, allegedly had another.

The leaked data about the Credit Suisse accounts comes months after the monarch was featured in the Pandora papers, another leak of data which revealed King Abdullah’s property portfolio, including premises in California and central London.

A spokesperson for Jordan’s king and queen stated there has been no wrongdoing on behalf of the pair, claiming that the source of their funds was entirely compliant with the relevant tax legislation. Under Jordanian law, King Abdullah is exempt from paying taxes.

According to the monarch’s lawyers, a large proportion of the funds held within his Credit Suisse accounts were derived from the inheritance he received from his father, King Hussein. The law in Jordan exempts the king from paying inheritance tax as well.

During the release of the Pandora papers, the UK media claimed that Jordanian intelligence forces had sought to block access to online stories about the monarch’s wealth. King Abdullah’s lawyers have denied this suggestion. It is not known if any similar attempts have or are set to be made in the wake of the latest revelations.

King Abdullah’s lawyers stated that only one of the monarch’s Credit Suisse accounts remains open, comprising investment companies established to serve as a trust fund for their children, as well as using the bank to hold proceeds from the sale of a “large wide body aircraft.”

Switzerland could be blacklisted as money-laundering state

The financial hub is dealing with the fallout from a huge leak

of Credit Suisse banking data

© Getty Images / Matthias Kulka

The European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political grouping in the European Parliament, called for a review of Switzerland’s banking practices on Monday, and for the country to be included on the EU’s dirty-money blacklist after leaked Credit Suisse documents revealed the bank’s dealings with shady clientele.

The Swiss banking giant has reportedly served a motley client roster for decades, which included heads of state and spy chiefs, as well as human rights abusers and sanctioned individuals.

“The ‘Swiss Secrets’ findings point to massive shortcomings of Swiss banks when it comes to the prevention of money laundering,” the EPP’s coordinator on economic affairs Markus Ferber said, adding: “When Swiss banks fail to apply international anti-money-laundering standards properly, Switzerland itself becomes a high-risk jurisdiction.”

The EPP released the proposal following media reports on Monday on the results of investigations into the leak of data on thousands of accounts held at the bank during recent decades. The investigation, called Suisse Secrets, identified clients of the Swiss bank who had been involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and other serious crimes.

Credit Suisse has strongly rejected any allegations of wrongdoing, saying that the media reports were based on “selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank’s business conduct.”

If Switzerland is added to the blacklist, it would face the kind of enhanced due diligence applied to transactions linked to nations including Iran, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea. The EU money-laundering blacklist currently comprises 21 countries, none of which are European.

Switzerland is not part of the EU.

Canadian Convulsions > The most honest and intelligent commentary on Trudeau's madness - Evangeline Lilly

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Marvel star pushes for talks with Covid protesters

Trudeau responds to Evangeline Lilly by ending Emergency Act

FILE PHOTO. Evangeline Lilly. © Getty Images / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ star Evangeline Lilly has urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sit down with vaccine mandate protesters amid the ongoing trucker convoy demonstrations.

The actress posted a video in which she stated: “Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, I want to speak to you today about your current approach to, and current treatment of, our fellow Canadians who are protesting your federal vaccine mandates. They have asked to meet with you, prime minister: medical experts, top scientists, doctors, nurses, parents, grandparents; intelligent, loving, concerned citizens.”

“Why won’t you sit with them?” Lilly asked. “If you’re so convinced of your own reasons for the mandates, sit down and talk the leaders of a group of 2.3 million protesters across the country, who represent many millions more across the nation, and explain it to them and ask them to listen with open hearts and minds, and then reciprocate. Listen to what they have to say with a mind open to hearing things that might go against the ideas you are entrenched in.”

She continued by saying that the way to unify people is by finding solutions, not by vilifying those who “say there is a better way,” and that what the country needs right now is unification, which requires leadership to “see, recognize and hear from the people sitting out in the cold at your door.”

Lilly went on to accuse Trudeau of painting a false picture of the protests, saying that many Canadians who decided to see the “fury and destruction” that is supposedly going on in Ottawa, as described by the prime minister and corporate media, have been surprised to see “thousands of people singing, dancing, hugging, waiting patiently, speaking kindly, cleaning the streets, and generally sharing the true Canadian spirit.”

After noting that the Canadian leadership is treating these peaceful protesters as terrorists, Lilly asked that people from both sides of the mandate issue listen to each other and don’t let the press brainwash them into division and hatred.

She concluded by saying, “Listening is the only way out of the ideological mess the media has broiled us all into.”

Lilly, who had previously expressed her opposition to Canada’s vaccine mandates and drew the ire of the internet for her attendance of an anti-mandate protest, has found herself at the center of yet another wave of backlash following her recent video.

A lot of people seemingly wholeheartedly disagreed with Lilly’s calls for unity and communication, and took to Twitter to call on Marvel to drop the actress from upcoming film ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, which finished filming last fall and is now in post-production.  

Disney has not yet responded to the calls, and many suspect it would be way too costly for the company to recast the actress at this point. But some have also noted the fact that Lilly’s fellow MCU actress Letitia Wright has also been publicly voicing her opposition to vaccines, but has not yet been booted from her role in the Black Panther films.

The great misfortune of having far-left-leaning media in this country results in some disgusting and stupid vitriol poured out on Lilly on social media. Too many people believe what Canada's Trudeau-loving media has to say even when it makes no sense whatsoever. Trudeau is alarmingly immature, incompetent, and incapable of admitting his wrongs. 

Just moments ago, Trudeau announced the end of the Emergencies Act, as it was 'no longer an emergency'. Of course, it never was an emergency, the protest ended without the use of emergency measures and even before the Act came into power. 

It's almost funny that after weeks of refusing to listen to tens of thousands of Canadians, Justin changes his mind the day after Evangeline posted her courageous and sincere thoughts. Amazing!

By the way, Evangeline, the Conservatives need a new leader!!!

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