By Ron Paul | July 17, 2023

As a rule, US war reporting since Vietnam has been mostly mainstream media cheerleading the mission rather than digging beyond government war propaganda. After all, it was images of American boys coming home in body bags shown on the six oclock news across America that finally galvanized mainstream opposition to that war.

The Pentagon learned its lesson by the first Gulf War, and it severely restricted up-close media coverage. Only trusted journalists were able to report from the front lines. Most of the press corps wrote up stories based on US military press releases from luxury hotels in Baghdad.

By the time of Gulf War II the Pentagon came up with the concept of embedding select journalists with the troops. This allowed the story to be framed by the Pentagon with the false impression that actual journalism was taking place. It felt authentic, because the journalist was with the troops and close to the action, but the story presented what the Pentagon wanted to be presented.

This is perhaps a long way of pointing out that US mainstream media coverage of the war in Ukraine leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, sometimes the truth does slip out in publications like the New York Times, which reported last week that in just the first weeks of Ukraines counter-offensive at least 20 percent of the weaponry and equipment donated by the US and NATO has been destroyed.

However, usually what the mainstream media serves up are Pentagon and neocon talking points. Russia is losing, they report. Russia has already lost, as Biden said recently. Most Americans dont go out of their way to listen to actual experts like Col. Doug Macgregor, who from the beginning has been telling a very different story. Thus Americans continue to be fed propaganda.

There is a funny thing about propaganda, though. Sometimes it comes face-to-face with contradictory reality and is shown to be nothing but a pack of lies.

Take for example last weeks shocking report that President Biden has signed an order to mobilize 3,000 US military reservists for deployment to Europe in support of the 2014 Operation Atlantic Resolve. What is Atlantic Resolve? It was launched in the aftermath of the US-backed coup in Ukraine and the ensuing unrest under the US-installed puppet government.

So, if Russia is losing or has already lost, as Biden said last week why has it suddenly become necessary to call up US reserve forces? Well, in the midst of one of the most serious US military recruiting crises ever, it seems Washington does not have sufficient troops for its anti-Russia mission in Ukraine. So what is the mission and why does it seem to be creeping toward sen...

By Ahmed Adel | July 19, 2023

A US military veteran, who claimed battlefield victories as a combatant in Ukraine and gained fame through media interviews and Twitter posts by boasting about his exploits against Russian forces, has been exposed for lying to create a false image that he could take advantage of after the end of the conflict to become rich. This again demonstrates the unprofessionalism of Western media, which knowingly advanced the lies of a mercenary for propaganda reasons.

James Vasquez, who has amassed more than 400,000 followers on Twitter and is regularly quoted by CNN and the New York Times, has falsely claimed exploits on the Ukraine battlefield, Insider reported on July 16.

The portal, which cited allegations by four other foreign volunteers in Ukraine, also confirmed through the Pentagon that Vasquez lied about his military history when he claimed to have had combat deployments as a sergeant in the US Army in Iraq and Kuwait. It is revealed that he served as an electrical systems repairman in the US Army Reserve.

Vasquezs social media posts often went viral, purportedly about his exploits on the front lines.

In his videos and posts, he bragged about capturing Russians and taking out tanks, was regularly interviewed by the news media, and made catchy claims including that he imagined the punchable Tucker Carlson when preparing for battle, wrote the portal.

Other fighters told the media that Vasquez boasted he would become a millionaire when the conflict ended.

James said, and I quote, Im never gonna go back to work as a handyman. Im probably never gonna have to work again after this war. Im gonna be famous, said Tim, an American man working with the Ukrainian army who spoke to Insider on the condition of withholding his last name.

Vasquez created his claims by going to areas where battles had recently occurred, filming videos of destroyed equipment and claiming achievements as his own, say other foreigners. In one case, he claimed on Twitter that he was heading to Soledar, where heavy fighting was allegedly occurring. However, Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the area days earlier.

Accusations against Vasquez apparently began to surface earlier this year. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, an American who works in the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces media department, said in a Twitter post in March that Vasquez could not have legally gone on combat missions because he did not have a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

I met James Vasquez three times for a total of about four hours, she told Insider. During our last meeting, in the presence of another person, he gave himself up...

Regardless of the overlapping of terms, whether the region in question is called West Asia or the Middle East, we can say that West Asia is a region that can be defined as an area where states believe they have a particularly close set of relations due to history, culture, and geography. It consists of the states of the Arab League plus Iran and Egypt, with some states belonging to more than one region.

As for Israel, although it belongs to the West Asian region and part of the Middle East geographically, it is closer to Europe politically and culturally; it has connections to European countries and takes part in European events.

West Asia enjoys an important geostrategic location, linking East and West by land and sea, includes the most important international waterways, and holds an economic and political weight in the world.

It has remained at the heart of global security concerns throughout the last decades and has multiple disputes, often with significant involvement from outside powers. Since 2010, at least 7 countries in the region used military force in combat on their own territory, and 11 used it on the territory of other countries.

West Asia is the only region of the world that does not have an inclusive regional security system. Attempts to create such a system have always foundered on the regions myriad tensions and complexities. For that, the issue of security and stability in the region constitutes an urgent and critical question in one of the most turbulent regions in the world, where chaos enhances the security dilemma, due to the complex relations among regional powers, external intervention, and lack of trust between the political players.

The question then is whether the dramatic events that have occurred in the region in the past few years made the current moment ripe, at least, for beginning a process of establishing a comprehensive security system. Much has changed since the so-called Arab Spring outbreak, the emergence of terrorism and other new forms of religious extremist groups, and the perception that America is not so fully committed to regional stability as it was in the past, along with the rise of China and Russia as competing powers in the area.

Under these circumstances, one might ask about the necessary steps to start establishing a comprehensive and cooperative regional security system. In fact, it is hard to believe that a regional security system can be formed easily and quickly because in all cases there will remain disagreements that cannot be fully agreed upon, and many disputes will appear when taking the initial steps to setting up such a system.

Nevertheless, I can say that setting up a comprehensive and sustainable security system to achieve the highest level of stability and cooperation is possible if there is political will. I believe political will and popular desire to achieve this is looming on the horizon. In addition, some historical precede...

The news regarding the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) implementing their plan to create a new international currency has gained momentum. The currency will be backed by gold, as announced on July 7, 2023. In a recent meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries, along with Continue reading Russia Confirms BRICS Will Create A Gold-Backed Currency

AARON MAT THE GRAYZONE JULY 13, 2023

Former Ukrainian government official and diplomat Andrii Telizhenko joins Aaron Mat to discuss how, in his view, powerful US figures including Joe Biden have used Ukraine for personal corruption and the geopolitical aim of bleeding Russia all to the detriment of Ukrainians.

Telizhenko worked for the Ukrainian prosecutor generals office in Kyiv before moving to Ukraines US Embassy in 2015. He went on to work for Blue Star Strategies, a Democrat-run lobbying firm that represented Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that appointed Bidens son Hunter to a lucrative board seat.

Telizhenko, who cooperated with Rudy Giulianis effort to dig up information about the Bidens alleged corruption in Ukraine, has been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for having directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign influence in a United States election.

Guest: Andrii Telizhenko. Political consultant who was previously a Ukrainian government official and diplomat.

Video link

Orientation

How long has capitalism existed? Has it always been with us all the way back to tribal societies or is it a product of the modern age? Is there any pattern to its evolution? Is it cyclic,  spiral-like  or random? What is the nature of capitalist crises? Why does capitalism grow flush in certain parts of the world, die out in others and yet seemingly reignite itself in another part of the world? What can world-systems theory tell us about the current battle between the Anglo-American empire and the multipolarists of China, Russia and Iran?

What is capitalism?

Capitalism is a historical economic system that arose in Europe in the 15^th century.  Over a 600-year period its leading hegemons were first the Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice. In the 17^th century these city-states were superseded by the Netherlands. The British overtook the Dutch in the 18^th century and the United States crowded out the British well before World War I. Capitalism is characterized by a law-enforced right of private property (as opposed to state or community ownership) in the areas of:

• raw materials (land)
• means of production (tools and methods of harnessing energy)
• labor (who uses the tools and the methods of harnessing energy to work on raw materials)
• commodities (finished products and services)
• money which is transformed into capital stocks, bonds and derivatives
• power settings in which decisions about the economy are made (political settings). These include The National Association of Manufacturers and The Business Round Table. Internationally the Council of Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum and the G7 are examples.

The purpose of capitalism is to make a profit which is unlimited in scope, protected by law, and if necessary, by the military. According to world-systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein capitalists derive their profits by two processes:

• broadening its reach, colonizing the periphery counties for its natural resources, inducing it to produce a single cash crop while paying wages far below wages of the workers in the core countries.
• deepening its re...

RT | July 18, 2023

UK bank Coutts dropped British politician Nigel Farage as a customer not because his accounts contained insufficient funds but because his social and political views were incompatible with its values, according to a 40-page dossier compiled by the bank and seen by the UK Telegraph on Tuesday.

While admitting there is no evidence of regulator or legal censure of [Farage], the document concluded Farage was no longer compatible with Coutts given his publicly-stated views that were at odds with our position as an inclusive organization.

This was not a political decision, but one centered around inclusivity and purpose, the file stated, recommending the UKIP founder be put on a glide path to debanking as soon as his mortgage deal concluded even though he was described as professional, polite and respectful in his dealings with Coutts.

While searching for a legitimate reason to drop him, Coutts apparently tried to leverage Farages Russian connections, only to find he did not have any. The file discussed his appearances on RT, where he was last a guest in 2017, alongside a claim about receiving payment from the Russian network that the bank admitted was bogus, and lamented that his comments about the conflict in Ukraine fall short of endorsement of the Russian position.

The bank ultimately settled on reputational risk. Farage presents a material and ongoing reputational risk to the bank as he is regularly (almost constantly) the subject of adverse media, the document explained, citing dozens of unfavorable news articles, including many from partisan sources like Hope Not Hate and Labour Movement for Europe.

The populist is seen as xenophobic and racist and a disingenuous grifter who promotes values that do not align with the banks, the dossier stated, referring to comments that were distasteful and appear increasingly out of touch with wider society, reportedly including tweets expressing his belief that the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights. His friendships with former US president Donald Trump and Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic were also brought up as liabilities.

When Farage revealed last month that Coutts had closed his account without giving a reason, the bank claimed his balance had fallen below the minimum amount required to maintain an account. The dossier, which he obtained through a subject access request, thoroughly contradicts the banks statement, explaining that his economic contribution is now sufficient to retain on a commercial basis.

Farage described the file to the Telegraph as a Stasi-style surveillance report that reads rather like a pre-trial brief drawn up by the prosecution in a case against...

Wagner's Prigozhin and Libya's Haftar face lawsuit over alleged extrajudicial killings

US: Saudi Aramco chief named to board of BlackRock investment firm

Hungary has found allies outside of Europe for its pro-peace position

BY JOHN CODY REMIX NEWS JULY 18, 2023

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn took to Facebook on Tuesday to proclaim that Hungary and Latin America both have a pro-peace stance regarding the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and want the war to end as soon as possible.

Most of the world is tired of war. Today, we argued for an immediate ceasefire and peace, and this time the leaders of Latin America joined us! wrote Orbn on Facebook following the meeting of the leaders of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) summit in Brussels.

Although Orbns pro-peace stance is a minority position in Europe, he has found broad support from nations with a similar outlook toward the war elsewhere in the world, including India, China, and countries in Latin America. China, for example, has put forward a peace plan that Hungary has backed.

Within Latin America, there are a number of nations directly aligned with Russia, including Venezuela and Cuba, but more broadly speaking, there are many more nations skeptical of the Western war effort in Ukraine that have called for an immediate ceasefire. Countries like Brazil and Mexico have also refused to back sanctions against Russia, arguing it is not in their economic interest. Full article

This is how empire ends: not with a bang, but a whimper

By William Schryver imetatronink July 13, 2023

The member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization  consisting of the teetering Masters of Empire and their tawdry entourage of class-stratified vassals have just concluded a historic confab in Vilnius, Lithuania, capital of the alpha Baltic chihuahua.

In a shockingly transparent but otherwise rather banal series of events it became unmistakably clear that their grand plans to subject Russia to the rules-based order have come to naught.

Among others, the following consequences will ripple in the wake of this reality:

• Russia will achieve a decisive conclusion to the war on terms they dictate.
• NATO is shattered as a military alliance, and coming apart at the seams as a political alliance.
• Germany is on a trajectory of becoming a failed state, and as it goes, so will go the incoherent iron and clay mixture of the so-called European Union.
• The great myth of overwhelming US armaments supremacy has been exposed as little more than a modestly scaled boutique enterprise utterly ill-suited and ill-prepared to prosecute industrial warfare against a peer adversary.

Of course, many will immediately object:

But the US hasnt even employed its military in Ukraine! If the US entered this war with its awesome air and naval power, and its best-in-class army well, the Russians would get pounded to dust within a few weeks.

Well, I hope the thesis is never put to the test, because it will NOT end well.

I am now more convinced than ever that Russias specific strengths match and will consistently defeat the American militarys perceived strengths.

Russia admittedly does not wield an expeditionary military, but the concept and constitution of the military it has built renders it effectively unbeatable in its own neighborhood.

A little over a year has now passed since I published an essay entitled The United States Could Not Win and Will Not Fight a War Against Russia. I have recently revisited it. I felt no impulse to change a thing. Indeed, I am struck by how much it is more apropos now than it was a year ago. I believe it constitutes an essential element of understanding in relation to the geopolitical realities at work in our world circa 2023.

Since I wrote the article, there have been many twists and turns in the path of the continuing quasi-proxy war in Ukraine between the rapidly descendant American Empire and an increasingly resurgent Russia. But in early July 2022, it h...

A whining President Zelensky goes home with almost nothing but still might start WWIII

BY PHILIP GIRALDI UNZ REVIEW JULY 18, 2023

It is a lucky break that the Screen Actors Guild has gone on strike as it will give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an opportunity to dust off his thespian credentials and look for a new job when the Russians eventually bring down his government. Hollywood and Las Vegas would undoubtedly compete for such a nice Jewish young man to revive his former comedy routine where he played a piano with his penis. To be sure, without disrobing, Zelensky was inevitably the star performer at the recently completed two day NATO Summit in Vilnius Lithuania on July 11^th-12^th which also featured as a speaker US President Joe Biden, who provided a certain type of context by declaring that Russia could end this war tomorrow byceasing its inhumane attacks on Russia!

Zelensky whined and strutted through the two days, complaining that instant fast...

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | JULY 18, 2023

The Daily Mail sensationally claimed on Sunday that Wagner is plotting to invade the Suwalki Corridor from Belarus, after which this narrative virally spread across the global information ecosystem to take on a life of its own. Theres no truth to this allegation, however, since its solely the editorial spin that this British tabloid put on the words of a leading Russian parliamentarian. The present piece will debunk this fake news about Russias intentions prior to analyzing the importance of what was really said.

Chairman of the Dumas Defense Committee Andrey Kartapolov inadvertently set this scandal into motion after recently saying the following on a top domestic political talk show:

It is clear that Wagner [mercenary army] went to Belarus to train the Be...

RT | July 18, 2023

The Russian military has conducted strikes on Ukrainian facilities used to prepare terrorist attacks, the Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday. The attacks were carried out in retaliation to Mondays attack on the Crimean Bridge, which claimed two civilian lives and left one child injured.

In a statement, the ministry said that Russian forces overnight launched a group retaliatory strike using high-precision sea-based weapons. The attack was aimed at facilities that were used to prepare terrorist acts against Russia involving unmanned drones, as well as the shipyard in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa that produced them, it added.

Apart from this, the barrage targeted depots in Odessa and Nikolaev that contained around 70,000 tons of fuel meant for the Ukrainian military. All designated targets have been hit. Fires and detonations have been registered at the destroyed facilities, according to the statement.

On Tuesday, Sergey Bratchuk, the head of the Odessa administration, reported a rocket attack on the city which involved six Kalibr missiles, but claimed that all of them had been downed. However, he noted that port infrastructure facilities and several other buildings were damaged in the strike.

Vitaly Kim, the head of the Nikolaev administration, said the attack hit an industrial facility, causing a fire that was promptly extinguished.

Unverified footage circulating on social media shows Ukrainian air defenses firing at an unknown target in Odessa Region, with a powerful explosion occurring several seconds later. Local media suggested that the strike could have destroyed a German-supplied Gepard air defense system.

Another unverified clip from Nikolaev Region appears to show a loud explosion and a fire.

On Monday, Russia accused Ukraine of staging a terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge involving two maritime drones which damaged one section of the roadway and killed a married couple, injuring their minor daughter.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised retaliation, noting at the time that the Defense Ministry was already preparing necessary proposals.

Telegra.ph July 14, 2023 Russian Defence Ministry continues to analyse US and its allies military and biological activity in Ukraine and other regions of the world. I would like to point out that the information we publish has been heard by the foreign media, despite strict Western censorship. Authoritative international publications such as The Times, []

By Drago Bosnic | July 18, 2023

In late November 2022, Washington DC admitted that it was unable to account for approximately $20 billion in weapons sent to the Kiev regime. At the time, the newly elected Republican-dominated Congress vowed to conduct impending audits as soon as they took over in January. Officially, the GOP wanted audits to determine and then release information on the massive weapons shipments from the United States to the Kiev regime and how much of that aid was ending up where its supposed to be. Republicans promised to hold the government accountable for spending US taxpayers dollars for the sake of the deeply corrupt Kiev regime.

At the time, major news media, such as Fox News, claimed that the Biden administration inspected only 10% of approximately 22,000 weapons sent to the Kiev regime from late February to November. However, oversight issues also extended to other theaters of operation, such as Taiwan, where approximately $19 billion in weapons sales for Chinas breakaway island province were missing. In late August, a Defense News report claimed there was a $14 billion backlog in weapons sales to Taiwan. However, the November data indicated that the actual number was nearly $19 billion in delayed deliveries, according to The Wall Street Journal.

US government and congressional officials fear the conflict in Ukraine is exacerbating a nearly $19 billion backlog of weapons bound for Taiwan, further delaying efforts to arm the island as tensions with China escalate, the WSJ report claimed. The US has pumped billions of dollars of weapons into Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February, taxing the capacity of the government and defense industry to keep up with a sudden demand to arm Kiev in a conflict that isnt expected to end soon, the authors added in an admission rarely seen in mainstream media.

And yet, close to eight months since promising to conduct the aforementioned impending audits, the Republican-dominated Congress never did anything of sorts, while the so-called aid has swelled to over $170 billion, according to the data released by the...

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a crucial agreement for maintaining global food price stability, recently suffered a setback with Russias abrupt withdrawal just before the deals expiry. Moscows decision cited unresolved issues with access to the SWIFT network and imports for its agricultural sector. This decision is economically significant and holds considerable geopolitical implications beyond the warring parties.

Understanding the Black Sea Grain Initiative

The Black Sea Grain Initiative was designed as a mitigating response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which threatened to trigger a worldwide food crisis due to the blockade of grain exports. In July 2022, with support and facilitation by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal opened the door to safe grain export from Ukraines Black Sea ports, namely Odesa, Yuzhny, and Chornomorsk, and through the Bosporus Strait. The deal was pivotal in ensuring the stable flow of grain exports, mainly wheat and corn, from two of the worlds leading agricultural producers, Russia and Ukraine.

Importantly, this deal was not merely about food; it also reflected the intricate relations of geopolitical strategy and economic necessity. The safe corridor created by the agreement was not just a pathway for grain but a symbol of delicate cooperation amid a climate of conflict. The agreement also included provisions to accommodate Russian food and fertilizer shipments, acknowledging Russias grievances regarding its export capabilities.

The post Russia Withdraws from Black Sea Grain Initiative appeared first on Geopolitical Monitor.

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | JULY 17, 2023

Kievs NATObacked counteroffensive has failed despite the tens of billions of dollars invested in this endeavor as confirmed by US Defense Intelligence Agency Chief of Staff John Kirchhofers candid admission late last week that we are at a bit of a stalemate. Ukraine cant count on much more American aid either after Biden earlier revealed that the US is low on ammo after depleting its stockpiles, which National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan later told CNN will take years to replenish.

It was against this backdrop that the US decided to give Ukraine cluster munitions despite previously describing their alleged use by Russia as a war crime since it simply doesnt have much else left to send. President Putin had earlier assessed that the export of provocative weapons like depleted uranium shells was precisely due to the aforesaid predicament, which he reaffirmed in light of the latest news. Quite clearly, the NATO chiefs race of logistics/war of attrition with Russia isnt going as planned.

The counteroffensive has failed so spectacularly that Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar was forced to inform her audience that reports about Russia going on the offensive near Kupyansk in Kharkov Region are true but sugarcoated it by claiming that Kiev is putting up strong resistance. With Russia regaining the military initiative, it was only a matter of time before Ukraine resorted to terrorism out of desperation to distract from these dynamics, ergo why it...

Ukrainian hacktivist team Cyber Resistance broke into the mailbox of one of the Russian officers and gained access to the personnel lists and other documents of the infamous 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade (MRB) of the Russian Armed Forces (military unit 13647) and the Storm detachment (military unit 13637), also notorious for their clashes with the Wagner PMC. InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community has reviewed these lists and is publishing some relevant details.

By the way, the former commander of the 72nd MRB, Lieutenant Colonel Roman Venevitin, known for his statements about the criminal activities of the Wagner PMC, also appears on these lists, which indirectly confirms their authenticity.

In total, the hacktivists made public 10 files (2 in *xlsx format and 8 in *docx format), several documents classified for official use.

We have checked these files and uploaded them to the InformNapalm website for convenience, so that anyone interested could study and use the lists for intelligence, legal, research and other purposes.

1. 72 .xlsx (personnel list of 72nd MRB)
2. 983.docx (personnel order, dated 08/25/2022, No. 983)
3. 1040.docx (personnel order, dated 8/29/2022, No. 1040)
4. 1044.docx (personnel order,...

By Lucas Leiroz | July 17, 2023

More and more evidence show the absolute failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. According to a major Western media outlet, around 20% of Kievs [NATO-supplied] weapons were destroyed by the Russian armed forces during the first two weeks of the Ukrainian counterattack. Sources believe that this military disaster led the Ukrainian authorities to pause the operation, given the high casualty rate.

The information was published on July 15 by the New York Times. The article considers the beginning of the counteroffensive to be the first half of June, when the Ukrainian armed forces launched frontline raids from Kherson to Donetsk. Unnamed American and European officials told the NYT that in the first two weeks the moves resulted in the destruction of 20% of Ukrainian armored vehicles including those sent by the West. Earlier, Moscow had already reported 26,000 casualties among Ukrainian soldiers and 3,000 vehicles destroyed in the so-called counteroffensive.

Some Ukrainian special units were hit even more seriously by Russian high-precision strikes. This was the case, for example, of Ukraines 47th Mechanized Brigade, a NATO-trained division, which lost, according to the NYT, more than 30% of its Bradley infantry vehicles in the first half of June. Something similar happened with the 3rd Mechanized Brigade, which lost 32 German Leopard tanks in just one week.

They [Ukrainian Western-supplied weapons, armored vehicles] all burned () Everybody is hoping for a big breakthrough, a Ukrainian soldier identified as Sgt. Igor told journalists.

The Ukrainian weakness is mainly due to the absence of air support and the high presence of Russian minefields on the frontlines. Western tanks became easy targets for Russian artillery and air force, which led to many Ukrainian casualties, thwarting Kievs plans to launch a major counteroffensive in the spring-summer season. In this sense, the military disaster led the Ukrainians to stop the moves and rethink the tactics of war to be used against the Russian forces, according to the American newspaper.

The startling rate of losses dropped to about 10 percent in the ensuing weeks (), preserving more of the troops and machines needed for the major offensive push that the Ukrainians say is still to come. Some of the improvement came because Ukraine changed tactics, focusing more on wearing down the Russian forces with artillery and long-range missiles than charging into enemy minefields and f...

Ukraine war: Russia pulls out of Black Sea grain deal

Human Wrongs Watch

By Thalif Deen

Standing army?, the diplomat asked with mock surprise, and remarked perhaps half-jokingly, We dont even have a sitting army.

With a population of about 250,000, around that time, the Maldives was perhaps one of the few countries with no fighter planes, combat helicopters, warships, missiles or battle tanksan open invitation for mercenaries and free-lance military adventurers.

As a result, the islands fragile defenses attracted a rash of mercenaries and bounty hunters who tried to take over the country twice once in 1979, and a second time in 1988.

Although both attempts failed, the Indian Ocean-island refused to drop its defenses. It not only initiated a proposal seeking a UN security umbrella to protect the worlds militarily-vulnerable mini states but also backed an international convention to outlaw mercenaries, namely the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries

In the US, a mercenary is called a soldier of fortune, which is also the title of a widely circulated magazine, and sub-titled the Journal of Professional Adventurers.

The adventures and mis-adventures of mercenaries were also portrayed in several Hollywood movies, including the Dogs of War, Tears of the Sun, the Wild Geese, the Expendables, and Blood Diamond, among others.

When the Russian Wagner Group hit the front pages of newspapers worldwide, it was described as a private mercenary group fighting in Ukraine.

The New York Times said on June 30 the Wagner Group provided security to African presidents, propped up dictators, violently suppressed rebel uprisings and was accused of torture, murder of civilians and other abuses.

But the failed coup attempt by Wagner threatened, for a moment, the very existence of the Group.

A military...

RT.com July 16, 2023

Bradley armoured vehicles. Click to enlarge

The vaunted Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV), which was touted as a potential game-changer when Washington agreed to give dozens of the machines to Ukraine earlier this year, has reportedly had trouble staying in action amid fierce resistance from Russian forces during Kievs counteroffensive.

At least 34 Bradleys have now been visually confirmed as having been abandoned, damaged or destroyed, Business Insider reported on Saturday, citing open-source data from military research firm Oryx. The US has supplied as many as 109 BFVs to Ukraine, the outlet added, and they were first deployed on the battlefield in April.

Most of the losses occurred during the early days of the counteroffensive, which began last month, as Ukrainian forces tried to cross territory that was heavily mined by Russian troops, Business Insider said. The latest loss estimate was similar to that in a report on Saturday by the New York Times, which said Ukraines NATO-trained 47th Mechanized Brigade had lost 30% of its Bradleys in just two weeks.

The BFV is a tracked and lightly armored vehicle with the capability to transport about ten soldiers and mount weaponry such as a 25mm cannon and a TOW anti-tank missile launcher.

When the administration of President Joe Biden agreed in January to send BFVs to Kiev, the Pentagon touted the vehicles as tank-killers and claimed they would provide a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on the battlefield. US media outlets such as Newsweek cited military experts as saying the Bradleys could become a game-changer, potentially even enabling Ukraine to retake Crimea. Russian officials warned that the BFVs and other Western-supplied weaponry would only prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

With dozens of Bradleys and other hardware being knocked out of action by Russian forces, Ukrainian units have been forced to abandon their armored vehicles and advance slowly on f...

At the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, eventual membership in NATO was promised to Ukraine and Georgia with the statement that NATO welcomes Ukraines and Georgias Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agree today that these countries will become members of NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin flew into a rage, and, according to Continue reading "Was No NATO Expansion East More Than a Promise?"

The post Was No NATO Expansion East More Than a Promise? appeared first on Antiwar.com Original.

Americas Brobdingnagian $1.3 trillion national security budget thrives on manufactured threats and falsely demonized foes. And nothing could be more demonstrative of that proposition than the utter villainy now emanating from the NATO summit in Vilnius. For crying out loud. Since the Munich Security Conference in 2007, the man (Putin) has said over and over, Continue reading "Villainy In Vilnius"

The post Villainy In Vilnius appeared first on Antiwar.com Original.

Click to see full-size image

• On July 16, the AFU shelled Gorlovka, Makeevka, Kievsky and Kirovsky districts of Donetsk. A woman was killed, another civilian was wounded;
• The AFU attacked a mine warehouse with ammonium and TNT in the Luhansk city;
• Russian artillery struck AFU positions near Yampolivka;
• Russian artillery struck AFU positions near Dibrova;
• Russian artillery struck AFU positions near Avdeevka;
• Russian artillery destroyed a command post of the AFU near Dyleevka;
• Russian artillery destroyed an ammo depot of the AFU near Daryevka;
• Russian artillery destroyed an ammo depot of the AFU near Razdolovka;
• Clashes between the Russian Army and the AFU continue near Torske;
• Clashes between the Russian Army and the AFU continue near klishchiivka;
• The Russian Army repelled AFU attacks near Novomikhailovka;
• Clashes between Russian forces and the AFU continue in Mariinka;
• The Russian Army repelled AFU attacks near Belogorovka;
• Clashes between the Russian Army and the AFU continue near Avdiivka;
• Up to 100 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 armored vehicles, 3 motor vehicles, Msta-B, D-30 howitzers were destroyed in Krasny Liman region, according to the Russian MOD;
• Up to 315 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 armored vehicles, 3 pickups, 1 D-30 howitzer were destroyed in Donetsk region, according to the Russian MOD;
• Up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers, 2 infantry vehicles, 2 armored vehicles, 3 motor vehicles, 4 artillery systems were destroyed in Zaporozhye region, according to the Russian MOD;
• The AFU reportedly hit 2 ammo depots, 5 artillery units, 4 concentration areas, 4 radio stations, 2 air defence systems of Russian Army in the past 24 hours.

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | JULY 16, 2023

The New York Times (NYT) Jonathan Weisman lost the plot in the article that he wrote in response to Tucker Carlson asking Republican presidential candidates about Ukraine. Titled Tucker Carlson Turns a Christian Presidential Forum Into a Putin Showcase, this self-described veteran journalist wanted to manipulate his audiences perceptions about his much more popular peer by getting them to think that hes shilling for the Russian leader. Instead, Weisman came off as cringey, desperate, and hateful.

Right at the start, the NYTs correspondent declared that Jesus is out. Vladimir V. Putin is in, which was meant to make it seem like the Christians at Fridays Family Leadership conference in Des Moise abandoned their god for a false idol. Nobody who sincerely respects Christians would ever imply what Weisman just did, which suggests that he was so triggered by Tuckers questions about Ukraine that he lost his cool by attacking all of his targets fellow believers as a form of collective punishment.

This wouldnt be the first time that he couldnt control his emotions either since he was demoted in August 2019 after an ethno-misogynist bigotry scandal that he sparked on social media. Weisman therefore has a track record of lashing out against certain identity groups in response to being offended by something that one of their representatives said or did, which extends credence to the abovementioned interpretation of what he intended to convey in that particular passage of his article.

Moving along, Weisman described Tucker as confrontational for reacting to former Vice President Mike Pences criticism of the Biden Administrations supposedly slow dispatch of military aid to Ukraine after he wondered aloud why that Republican presidential candidate is so distressed about this. Theres nothing confrontational in asking why a person running for the countrys top office cares more about a foreign country than their own, however, which is another example of Weismans false framing.

The next one came right after when he wrote that For good measure, Mr. Carlson called Ukraine an American client state, accused Ukraines Jewish leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, of persecuting Christians and strongly indicated Mr. Pence had been conned, despite evidence to the contrary. Weisman wanted his audience to think that Tucker was just peddling conspiracy theories, but the reality is that its this NYT correspondent who was yet again attempting to manipulate his audience...

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• On July 16, the Russian Ministry of Defense recorded no cases of hostilities and ceasefire violations in Idlib region in the past 24 hours;
• On July 16, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammed Shayya al-Sudani arrives in Damascus and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad;
• On July 16, an explosion was reported in the city of Manbij. One person was wounded.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Military Situation In Syria On July 15, 2023 (Map Update)
• Military Situation In Syria On July 13, 2023 (Map Update)

The post Military Situation In Syria On July 16, 2023 (Map Update) appeared first on South Front.

RT | July 16, 2023

The vaunted Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV), which was touted as a potential game-changer when Washington agreed to give dozens of the machines to Ukraine earlier this year, has reportedly had trouble staying in action amid fierce resistance from Russian forces during Kievs counteroffensive.

At least 34 Bradleys have now been visually confirmed as having been abandoned, damaged or destroyed, Business Insider reported on Saturday, citing open-source data from military research firm Oryx. The US has supplied as many as 109 BFVs to Ukraine, the outlet added, and they were first deployed on the battlefield in April.

Most of the losses occurred during the early days of the counteroffensive, which began last month, as Ukrainian forces tried to cross territory that was heavily mined by Russian troops, Business Insider said. The latest loss estimate was similar to that in a report on Saturday by the New York Times, which said Ukraines NATO-trained 47th Mechanized Brigade had lost 30% of its Bradleys in just two weeks.

The BFV is a tracked and lightly armored vehicle with the capability to transport about ten soldiers and mount weaponry such as a 25mm cannon and a TOW anti-tank missile launcher.

When the administration of President Joe Biden agreed in January to send BFVs to Kiev, the Pentagon touted the vehicles as tank-killers and claimed they would provide a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on the battlefield. US media outlets such as Newsweek cited military experts as saying the Bradleys could become a game-changer, potentially even enabling Ukraine to retake Crimea. Russian officials warned that the BFVs and other Western-supplied weaponry would only prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

With dozens of Bradleys and other hardware being knocked out of action by Russian forces, Ukrainian units have been forced to abandon their armored vehicles and advance slowly on foot, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. You can no longer do anything with just a tank with some armor because the minefield is too deep, and sooner or later, it will stop, and then it will be destroyed by concentrated fire,...

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• The AFU reportedly entered Staromayorske but were repelled by Russian forces. Clashes continue in the area;
• Russian artillery struck the AFU positions near Velikaya Novosyolk;
• Russian artillery struck AFU positions near Orekhov;
• Clashes between the AFU and the Russian Army continue north of Pryyutne;
• Clashes between the AFU and the Russian Army continue near Makarivka;
• Up to 260 Ukrainian servicemen, 3 armored vehicles, 3 motor vehicles, D-20 and Msta-B howitzers were destroyed in Zaporozhye region, according to the Russian MOD;
• The AFU reportedly hit 2 ammo depots, 5 artillery units, 4 concentration areas, 4 radio stations, 2 air defence systems of Russian Army in the past 24 hours.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Military Situation In Ukraine On July 16, 2023 (Map Update)
• Military Situation South Of Velyka Novosilka, Zaporozhie Front, On July 15, 2023 (Map Update)

The post Military Situation In Southern Ukraine On July 16, 2023 (Map Update) appeared first on South Front.

By Alexandr Svaranc New Eastern Outlook 16.07.2023

Turkey and Iran continue to be important Middle Eastern nations. Due to their geographical proximity, imperial past, violent rivalry, theological tensions (between Sunnism and Shiism), and, of course, the continuous divergence of geopolitical interests, both nations have a rich history of relations.

There were multiple Turkish-Persian clashes and wars, with various interruptions and varying degrees of success, during the Ottoman and Persian empires. Regarding the significance of the harem in the Ottoman Empire, historians have observed that, unlike the Turkish-Persian conflicts, which occasionally came to an end during periods of truce, the harem wars continued unabatedly. The reasons for these wars were varied, with religion often becoming a justification for the ambitions of Istanbul or Tehran. As a rule, it was a struggle for the right to own border territories from the Caucasus to Asia Minor, for the right to control strategic trade and military communications (for example, the area between Tigris and Euphrates, Eastern or Western Armenia and Syria).

In fact, s...

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley).

Julian Assange is a journalist whos been imprisoned for doing journalism on war crimes, by an empire that claims to defend journalists and oppose war crimes.

Assange and his persecution expose the giant plot holes in every story the western power structure tells about itself. About its love of free speech and the free press. About its opposition to tyranny. About its wars and why it wages them. Assange exposes the empires true face.

And in that sense its interesting that the empire made the decision to jail and silence Assange, since in doing so it exposed its own tyranny and criminality far more than WikiLeaks could have ever hoped to.

*****

Assange said, It is the role of good journalism to take on powerful abusers. If you accept this as true, you must also accept that there are precisely zero good journalists anywhere in the western mass media, and that Assange is the greatest journalist who has ever lived.

*****

The moderate position on Ukraine is to hold both Russia and the US empire responsible for their respective roles in starting and continuing this war. Thats the middle ground. But this position is regarded as freakish fringe extremism in the western mainstream and youll be ac...

By Ilya Tsukanov Sputnik 16.07.2023

The Western alliance has sunk tens of billions of dollars worth of weaponry into Ukraine over the past year, including everything from outdated 1960s junk to the latest high-tech systems. Russian forces have managed to capture some of this equipment in fierce battles with Ukrainian forces and mercs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin doesnt rule out the reverse engineering of NATO equipment captured in Ukraine in cases where doing so could improve Russias own weapons.

Theres the expression reverse engineering. Well see what happens, because modern equipment we have it, and its very effective, lets take the T-90 Proryv tank for example, which is the best tank in the world without any exaggeration. But the enemy also produces modern equipment. And if theres an opportunity to look inside and see if theres something there that we can use, well, why not? Putin said in an interview with Russian television on Sunday.

The United States and its European and Asian allies have committed over $94.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine over the past 18 months, far outstripping the size of Russias entire defense budget of $56.6 billion. These expenditures, which included the delivery of some of NATOs most cutting-edge, battle-tested equipment, have nevertheless failed to enable Ukrainian forces to puncture Russian defensive lines in the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson.

NATO powers have committed everything from Leopard 2 tanks (including some of their latest modifications) to Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Stryker armored fighting vehicles, ATACMS rocket launchers, Caesar howitzers, Storm Shadow cruise missiles, NASAMS and Patriot air defense systems, with some countries sending virtually their entire stockpiles of some of these weapons. NATO has also sent a range of modern man-portable weapons, including Panzerfaust and Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and a range of drones, jamming equipment, radar, engineering and other equipment.

Some of these weapons, including everything from Javelins and Stingers to Bradleys and Leopards, have been captured by Russian forces, with some equipment now serving with Russian forces.

The Cold War will continue for as long as the warmongering Western system continues. NATO statements of hostility towards Russia this week demonstrate beyond all doubt that a Cold War mindset among Western leaders is entrenched more than ever. There is a weird sense of going back in time to a world where the Americans []

Czech defector Gen. Jan Sejna

HenryMakow.com July 16, 2023

By now, the Marxist Biden Regime (which is 95 percent Zionist or Bolshevik-Zionist) has wholly succeeded in depleting the USAs stock of arms and ammunitions, by using the ploy of the Ukraine War and by collapsing the supply chains (notably from China) so that the USA will soon have great difficulty in replenishing its stocks of arms and ammunition.

In the plan of the satanic CHABAD, the age of the Antichrist is intended to coincide with the genocide of most Christians.

by Patrick OCarroll (henrymakow.com) 

In 1968, Gen. Jan Sejna tipped off Czech leader Alexander Dubcek that Russia was about to invade Czechoslovakia; then Sejna promptly defected to the USA (via the US Consulate in Trieste-Italy) to become one of the most prominent Eastern Bloc functionaries to ever defect during the entirety of the staged cold war. Sejna later became a counterintelligence analyst for the Central Lack-Of-Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley VA.

In his 1982 book We Will Bury You, Jan Sejna warned that communism was soon about to fake its own death by collapsing the Warsaw Pact but also by ultimately disarming the USA and NATO. In a way, Sejna was proven right, but with some reservations.

He was RIGHT about communism faking its own death but not going away: He was also RIGHT about communism disarming the USA:

By now, the Marxist Biden Regime (which is over 95 percent Zionist or Bolshevik-Zionist) has wholly succeeded in depleting the USAs stock of arms and ammunitions, by using the ploy of the Ukraine War and by collapsing the supply chains (notably from China) so that the USA will soon have great difficulty in replenishing its stocks of arms and ammunitions. Recently, analyst Steve Quayle highlighted this alarming fact.

But he was WRONG about true communism: Britains Marxist Fabian Society in London has been a key organization directing the spread of communism throughout the world since 1884.

George Orwell was a committed Fabian and a top-degree Freemason....

Westwards child sex trafficking is a much more serious issue than are the trumped-up charges NATO laid against Russian President Putin. In examining the issue of child sex trafficking from Ukraine, this article is divided into seven parts. We first place the allegations NATO raised against Russian authorities into our overall analytical framework and then []