World Politics

[Tracker]

3 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-says-if-us-does-not-change-path-towards-it-there-will-surely-be-conflict-2023-03-07/

Pretty gross rhetoric from the Chinese Foreign Minister.

Als a lot of BS. 

[do or die]

Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian front......trench warfare is back, it seems.    
Pictures from Bakhmut and the surrounding region make it look like a cross between Verdun and Stalingrad.  Or to put it another  way......horrible wastage. 

[Tracker]

2 minutes ago, do or die said:

Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian front......trench warfare is back, it seems.    
Pictures from Bakhmut and the surrounding region make it look like a cross between Verdun and Stalingrad.  Or to put it another  way......horrible wastage. 

The Ukrainian army can retreat from Bakhmut and still survive- Putin cannot. The Wagner group has cleaned out every prison in Russia and Belarus as well as every one they can access- murderers, rapists and so forth and apparently are now clearing out psychiatric wards and registering 16 year old boys for military service. 

[do or die]

6 minutes ago, Tracker said:

The Ukrainian army can retreat from Bakhmut and still survive- Putin cannot. The Wagner group has cleaned out every prison in Russia and Belarus as well as every one they can access- murderers, rapists and so forth and apparently are now clearing out psychiatric wards and registering 16 year old boys for military service. 

Also looks like the Wagner group and the Russian regular forces are now pointing fingers at each other.   Blame game already starting...........
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11825261/Wagner-chief-warns-entire-Russian-frontline-COLLAPSE-troops-not-ammunition.html

Edited March 7, 2023 by do or die

[Tracker]

18 minutes ago, do or die said:

Also looks like the Wagner group and the Russian regular forces are now pointing fingers at each other.   Blame game already starting...........
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11825261/Wagner-chief-warns-entire-Russian-frontline-COLLAPSE-troops-not-ammunition.html

This started a week or so ago. The Russian forces are making incremental gains but it is costing them some 500-600 casualties per hundred meters and that number is climbing as new weapons arrive for the Ukrainian army. The Ukrainian military tactics seem to be deplete the Russian forces. At this point, the Russians have lost almost all their fighter jets and between 80-90% of their armoured vehicles. For about 4% of the American military budget, about 80-90% of Russian military capability has been destroyed. Reports of mutiny and desertion are almost daily.

[Tracker]

19 minutes ago, Tracker said:

This started a week or so ago. The Russian forces are making incremental gains but it is costing them some 500-600 casualties per hundred meters and that number is climbing as new weapons arrive for the Ukrainian army. The Ukrainian military tactics seem to be deplete the Russian forces. At this point, the Russians have lost almost all their fighter jets and between 80-90% of their armoured vehicles. For about 4% of the American military budget, about 80-90% of Russian military capability has been destroyed. Reports of mutiny and desertion are almost daily.

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a8qApe6_460svav1.mp4

[Tracker]

‘You’ve Been Screwed’: Russian Inmates Rebel and Flee From Commanders. “Everything the enemy has, we will allow you to take,” an official tells fed-up inmates in a bizarre pep talk. 

-REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
The demented prison-recruitment scheme top Russian military brass are using to find fresh cannon fodder for the war against Ukraine apparently isn’t going so well: 11 inmates are on the run in Donetsk while their fellow recruits have been tossed into basements for refusing to fight.

That’s according to the independent outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, which released damning leaked audio on Tuesday that captures the unfolding chaos.

About 70 inmates are being held against their will in a basement in Donetsk after a conflict with their commanders went off the rails, one inmate told the outlet. He said he and 10 others had managed to flee during the mayhem, but now they’re terrified the military will track them down, execute them, and list them as missing so the circumstances of their deaths will be kept under wraps and their families will never receive compensation.

“If you refuse to go fight, people from Wagner will come and we’ll shoot you,” the inmate recalled being told.

Just before the prisoners’ escape, a man identified as a Russian Defense Ministry official was caught on tape trying to convince the group of angry inmates that they better follow orders.

A 10-minute clip shared by Ostorozhno, Novosti was reportedly surreptitiously recorded after the group of inmates recruited for the war effort refused to storm Ukrainian positions in the Donbas, and apparently began to catch wind of the fact that they were simply seen as an easily expendable resource to carry out human-wave style attacks.

“You were given a task yesterday, and you refused,” an unnamed representative of the Defense Ministry says as he scolds them. “I haven’t scared you with anything yet. Why would I need to scare you? I want to ask you, why didn’t you go carry out the task?”

“Those before you went through the exact same thing, there were 75 people–” the official says, before an inmate cuts him off and yells, “Of whom only 11 people remained? I was with them in the hospital!”

[the watcher]

I found this interesting:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/28/russia-ukraine-crisis-in-maps-and-charts-live-news-interactive

[Tracker]

Putin’s Troops Filmed Threatening to Turn Weapons on Bosses

 

OFF THE RAILS

“You can jail us all! How many years is it, 5, 7, 10? We don’t give a ****!”

Allison Quinn

News Editor

Updated Mar. 08, 2023 12:17PM ET / Published Mar. 08, 2023 12:11PM ET 

 

 

 

 

 

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

 

 

Listen to article3 minutes

 

 

A group of Russian troops sent to Ukraine to fight for the Kremlin’s “new” territory is threatening to raise absolute hell over what they describe as pointless suicide missions—and they’ve made clear they’re willing to turn their weapons on members of their own team if necessary.

The draftees from Kaliningrad have already appealed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin to complain of ancient weapons, lack of training, and people dying “for nothing.” In a video released publicly earlier this week, they shamed top military brass by saying there appears to be no battlefield strategy whatsoever and declaring that “this is no way to fight a war.”

Now, a video has leaked capturing the aftermath of their complaints. In a five-minute clip released by the independent outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, the men can be seen surrounding a commander sent out from Kaliningrad and warning him they will put up a fight if they are not heard.

“You can jail us all! How many years is it, 5, 7, 10? We don’t give a ****!,” one soldier yells after the commander tries but fails to convince them to obey orders and storm Ukrainian positions.

[Tracker]

Fox News Edits Out Trump Saying He Would Let Russia ‘Take Over’ Parts of Ukraine
-REUTERS
Donald Trump has long insisted that the Ukraine war would have never happened if he were still president, going so far as to blame the “rigged election” on Russia’s unprovoked invasion while claiming he had the magic words to stop the fighting “immediately.”

During a radio interview with Fox News host (and longtime confidant) Sean Hannity on Monday, the twice-impeached ex-president finally revealed how he personally would have prevented the war. According to Trump, all he needed to do was let Russia “take over” parts of Ukraine.

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-missile-strikes-cities-1.6772928

Quote

Russia unleashed a missile barrage targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine early Thursday, hitting residential buildings and killing at least six people in the largest such attack in three weeks, officials said.

In southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, lost power as a result of the missile attacks, according to nuclear state operator Energoatom.

The war crimes never end.

[Mark F]

"The chorus of voices claiming the Russian economy has proven vastly more resilient than expected is growing. Even former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria have wrongly despaired over the inefficacy of Western sanctions on Russia.

The implications are equally disturbing–that unprecedented U.S.-led sanctions don’t work. Following on the IMF’s latest assessment that the Russian economy shrank by a less-than-expected -2.2% in 2022, many of these commentators point to the IMF’s projection of fractionally positive economic growth in Russia of +0.3% in 2023, outstripping Germany and the U.K., as evidence that the economic pressure campaign against Russia has failed.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Far from serving as the independent arbiter of the statistical underpinnings of global economic activity, the IMF has been asleep at the switch."

he gives a good short breakdown of the economic mess inside Russia.

https://fortune.com/2023/03/06/imf-naively-parroted-putin-fake-statisticsand-botched-economic-forecast-russia-ukraine/

 

nothing new about the IMF being full of it. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Mark F

[Tracker]

                                                        

[iHeart]

 

[Tracker]

12 hours ago, Mark F said:

"The chorus of voices claiming the Russian economy has proven vastly more resilient than expected is growing. Even former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria have wrongly despaired over the inefficacy of Western sanctions on Russia.

The implications are equally disturbing–that unprecedented U.S.-led sanctions don’t work. Following on the IMF’s latest assessment that the Russian economy shrank by a less-than-expected -2.2% in 2022, many of these commentators point to the IMF’s projection of fractionally positive economic growth in Russia of +0.3% in 2023, outstripping Germany and the U.K., as evidence that the economic pressure campaign against Russia has failed.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Far from serving as the independent arbiter of the statistical underpinnings of global economic activity, the IMF has been asleep at the switch."

he gives a good short breakdown of the economic mess inside Russia.

https://fortune.com/2023/03/06/imf-naively-parroted-putin-fake-statisticsand-botched-economic-forecast-russia-ukraine/

 

nothing new about the IMF being full of it. 

[blue_gold_84]

https://thediplomat.com/2023/03/micronesias-president-writes-bombshell-letter-on-chinas-political-warfare/

Quote

David Panuelo, the president of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) has written a letter to FSM leaders providing extraordinary details on Beijing’s political warfare and grey zone activity in the country – and outlining a potential agreement to switch FSM’s diplomatic recognition from China to Taiwan.

Panuelo has a track record among world leaders of being exceptionally astute, open, and direct in his analysis of China’s behavior and actions.

He writes that a core threat to FSM is China’s stated intention to invade Taiwan. “The FSM has a key role to play in either the prevention of such a conflict, or participation in allowing it to occur,” Panuelo explains. “It is on this basis that Political Warfare and Grey Zone activity occur within our borders; China is seeking to ensure that, in the event of a war in our Blue Pacific Continent between themselves and Taiwan, that the FSM is, at best, aligned with the PRC (China) instead of the United States and, at worst, that the FSM chooses to ‘abstain’ altogether.”

He then details some of the extensive political warfare conducted against FSM. Three examples:

• “We understand that [China’s choice for ambassador to FSM] Mr. Wu would, upon his arrival, be given the mission of preparing the FSM to shift away from its partnerships with traditional allies such as the U.S., Japan, and Australia. We know that Mr. Wu would expand PRC security activity, awareness, and interest in the FSM… I declined the Ambassador-designate his position…they’re simply awaiting the new President to take power so Mr. Wu can become the Ambassador of China to the FSM.”
• “You can imagine my surprise when I was followed this past July in Fiji during the Pacific Islands Forum by two Chinese men; my further surprise when it was determined that they worked for the Chinese Embassy in Suva; my even further surprise when it was discovered that one of them was a PLA intelligence officer; and my continued surprise when I leaned that I had multiple Cabinet and staff who had met him before, and in the FSM. To be clear: I have had direct threats against my personal safety from PRC officials acting in an official capacity.”
• “[China’s newly appointed Envoy for the Pacific Islands Ambassador Qian Bo] would have been present during the 2nd China-PICS Political Dialogue. That itself is noteworthy insofar as that was the public meeting where the FSM Government found itself represented not by myself or a Cabinet member or even a member of our Foreign Service – indeed not by anyone in our Government at all but, rather, a private citizen names Mr. Duhlen Soumwei. I said to the PRC that we would not have formal representation at the meeting, and the PRC went to the extent of taking one of our citizens and then publicly having that citizen formally represent us. To say it again: China has established a precedent of taking our private citizens in multilateral meetings to formally represent our country without our Government’s awareness or approval thereof.”

 

[Mark F]

@blue_gold_84

strange, clumsy, crude stuff by China.  

Read today that Turkey, which has been allowing transit of goods through to Russia, has now stopped allowing it.

after this:

ISTANBUL, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The United States warned Turkey in recent days about the export to Russia of chemicals, microchips and other products that can be used in Moscow's war effort in Ukraine, and it could move to punish Turkish companies or banks contravening sanctions.

Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury Department's top sanctions official, visited Turkish government and private sector officials on Thursday and Friday to urge more cooperation in disrupting the flow of such goods.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Mark F

[Tracker]

"Tactical pause" was just announced by Wagner PMC around Bakhmut. Mild shock

Turkey suddenly blocked the shipments of sanctioned goods to and from Russia. Many Russian companies are now forced to find alternative sources or routes.

[blue_gold_84]

https://apnews.com/article/china-canada-secret-police-stations-073ba25ac8254496db59ea191901567f

Quote

BEIJING (AP) — China on Friday accused Canada of smearing its reputation over allegations China is secretly operating two overseas police stations in Quebec.

Canada should “stop sensationalizing and hyping the matter and stop attacks and smears on China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.

“China has been ... strictly abiding by international law and respecting all countries’ judicial sovereignty,” Mao said.

The spokesperson did not comment on the existence of the police stations or whether they were operated by Chinese government authorities.

Canadians of Chinese origin have been victims of activities carried out by the stations, Sgt. Charles Poirier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Thursday.

Canada will not tolerate any type of intimidation, harassment or targeting of diaspora communities, Poirier said.

The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Team has opened investigations into the suspected police stations in Montreal and Brossard, a suburb just south of the city, he said.

The Spanish human rights organization Safeguard Defenders says China has scores of such stations across the globe, including in the U.K. and the U.S.

In a report last September, it said the stations were used to “harass, threaten, intimidate and force targets to return to China for persecution.”

[Tracker]

Mass Backstabbing Spree Over Putin’s War Sweeps Russia

- REUTERS
Russian citizens are ratting each other out to authorities in droves for anti-war comments made in bars, beauty salons, and grocery stores in roughly a dozen cities across the country, according to a new report from the independent Russian news outlet Vrestka.

Legal filings obtained by the outlet from Moscow, Bryansk, Novosibirsk, and other cities indicate that citizens have been turned in for “violations” as minor as cracking a joke about the war, listening to Ukrainian music, or even just talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion in a public space.

Many of those jailed after being reported by other citizens were charged under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a new law signed by Putin last year criminalizing “public actions aimed at discrediting” Russian Armed Forces.

One Russian man from Bryansk, Mikhail Kolokolnikov, was reportedly fined and jailed for two days after a stranger called authorities on him for saying the phrase “Glory to Ukraine” at a bar on Jan. 15. In an interview with Vrestka, Kolokolniko said that two officers stormed the bar shortly after he said the phrase to another man, demanding to know, “Who said ‘Glory to Ukraine’ here?”

“The other day, a rocket hit a house in Dnipro,” Kolokolnikov, who was born in Ukraine, told the outlet—explaining why he said the slogan in a public place. “And I used to walk past this house every day to the beach, along the Pobeda embankment. In short, I was still a little angry because of this.”

In another case, Chita resident Ivan Sleponogov was jailed after being accused of saying an anti-war slogan during an Easter church service last April, according to a legal complaint. Sleponogov had allegedly claimed that he was actually chanting “Glory to the guys who died in Ukraine!” in reference to Russian soldiers who were killed in combat, and the case was eventually dropped—after Sleponogov had spent 10 days in jail.

Other cases detailed in the Vrestka investigation include complaints made against Russian citizens for playing a Ukrainian song in the car while driving, drunkenly making pro-Ukrainian statements from a balcony, and criticizing the war in private conversations with friends at a coffee shop. The individuals who made the complaints allegedly include eavesdropping neighbors, coworkers, and janitors.

In many of the cases, according to the outlet, little to no evidence was provided by witnesses who reported the alleged violations.

In some court filings, however, the “anti-war” sentiments allegedly expressed by accused citizens are not so subtle. In Serpukhov, a city near Moscow, two Russian army veterans accused Yuri Nemtov of approaching them at a shopping mall last November with some choice words. “Well, invaders! Go there to die like meat!” he allegedly said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russians-keep-ratting-each-other-for-criticizing-vladimir-putins-war-in-ukraine?ref=home

[Mark F]

thankfully, no officers or directors of Glencore were harmed in the bringing of these charges.

Glencore. profit by pillaging Africa since 1992. this is a depressing article.

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/after-impoverishing-millions-around-the-world-for-decades-glencore-finally-gets-slapped-by-us-courts/ar-AA18nIM5?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b67fef78a60841aaa9d1b381f8ab54a6&ei=40

 

"The playbook consisted of behaviour that repeated itself over and over and over again in multiple jurisdictions: 

Bribing of foreign officials;

Bribing of regulatory insiders to acquire privileged pricing intelligence and access to deals;

Deployment of middlemen as cut-outs in corrupt deals;

Transfer pricing from high-tax to low-tax geographies;

Aggressive tax avoidance;

Market manipulation through artificial constriction of supply; and

Profiteering off international sanctions.

Glencore was able to do this by surrounding itself with highly paid lawyers, accountants, fixers and public relations experts. "

Edited March 11, 2023 by Mark F

[Tracker]

Relatives of the mobilized sent a letter to Putin complaining that some of the mobilized have symptoms of "Pathogenic lymphocytic Venezuelan encephalomyelitis". A disease transmitted mainly by rats.

[JCon]

24 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Relatives of the mobilized sent a letter to Putin complaining that some of the mobilized have symptoms of "Pathogenic lymphocytic Venezuelan encephalomyelitis". A disease transmitted mainly by rats.

It will be difficult separating the rats from the Russian soldiers. Probably get them mixed up. 

[Tracker]

From Wine Country To London, Bank's Failure Shakes Worldwide

NEW YORK (AP) — It was called Silicon Valley Bank, but its collapse is causing shockwaves around the world.

From winemakers in California to startups across the Atlantic Ocean, companies are scrambling to figure out how to manage their finances after their bank suddenly shut down Friday. The meltdown means distress not only for businesses but also for all their workers whose paychecks may get tied up in the chaos.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that he’s talking with the White House to help “stabilize the situation as quickly as possible, to protect jobs, people’s livelihoods, and the entire innovation ecosystem that has served as a tent pole for our economy.”

U.S. customers with less than $250,000 in the bank can count on insurance provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Regulators are trying to find a buyer for the bank in hopes customers with more than that can be made whole.

That includes customers like Circle, a big player in the cryptocurrency industry. It said it has about $3.3 billion of the roughly $40 billion in reserves for its USDC coin at SVB. That caused USD Coin’s value, which tries to stay firmly at $1, to briefly plunge below 87 cents Saturday. It later rose back above 97 cents, according to CoinDesk.

Across the Atlantic, startup companies woke up Saturday to find SVB’s U.K. business will stop making payments or accepting deposits. The Bank of England said late Friday that it will put Silicon Valley Bank UK in its insolvency procedure, which will pay out eligible depositors up to 170,000 British pounds ($204,544) for joint accounts “as quickly as possible.”

“We know that there are a large number of startups and investors in the ecosystem who have significant exposure to SVB UK and will be very concerned,” Dom Hallas, executive director of Coadec, which represents British startups, said on Twitter. He cited “concern and panic.”

The Bank of England said SVB UK’s assets would be sold to pay creditors.

It’s not just startups feeling the pain. The bank’s collapse is having an effect on another important California industry: fine wines. It’s been an influential lender to vineyards since the 1990s.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/silicon-valley-bank-collapse_n_640cfebee4b0d15457b63f29

[Tracker]

Life in Belarus apartments is ....... convenient.