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A leading Ukrainian presidential aide claimed this morning that the explosion which damaged a key bridge in Crimea may have been ordered by one of Vladimir Putin's warring commanders. The 12 mile crossing over the Kerch strait links Crimea to the Russian mainland and is a major artery for Putin's forces that control most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region and for the Russian naval port of Sevastopol. It was damaged in an explosion early Saturday morning which saw chunks of the bridge fall into the sea and a large fire break out. The incident prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials...

The impact of the use of a nuclear device in Ukraine will depend on the details. Like any large-scale industrial army, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have obvious pressure points that would be vulnerable to nuclear attack. These include logistical centers, command and communications nodes, and concentrations of front-line forces. During the Cold War the Soviet Union expected to use tactical nuclear weapons against NATO (and expected that NATO would use them in return) and it is therefore likely that the Russian armed forces have workable theories as to how they might best use tactical nukes to inflict damage on Ukraine’s...

Two of Putin's top army lieutenants have 'openly declared war' on Defence Minister and staunch Putin loyalist Sergei Shoigu after a series of embarrassing defeats for the Kremlin in Ukraine. Chechen boss Ramzan Kadyrov and founder of the Wagner 'private army' or militia Yevgeny Prigozhin have turned on the minister amid heavy defeats and losses over the last two weeks, The Guardian reports. It comes after Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk and Luhansk in an announcement to which he gathered all of the country's top leaders and told the world the regions would 'remain with Russia forever.'...

Barnes, 32, is an Iraq War veteran who served one tour over a decade ago. "There is such an insane loss of life. It's like Iraq and Afghanistan had nothing on this isolated combat, driving around waiting for someone to shoot at us. I thought I knew what war was. No, no, no. That's not war. This is war." UNIQUE CULTURE "The culture, the people—it was the stoicism. I really respected the stoicism, but also respected that as soon as they let you in, it was nothing but family. I really respected their willingness to fight for what they believed...

I have a Facebook account which I rarely use, and saw this ad for this guy. THIS is an Admiral???? I got so ticked off I had to leave a reply. Tucker Carlson supports Putin? Really? I admit I haven't watched Fox news in a while but I find that hard to believe. But what really ticked me off is his comment of "the fringe right cabal headed by Donald Trump" Who is this jerk? THIS is/was running our Navy?? Don't tell me he's related to Al Franken.

Maybe Grandpa Joe Should Stop Rambling About Nuclear WarOkay, this one requires a couple of soundbites to set the stage. The first is from 10 years ago this month...“Governor Romney… a few months ago, when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia. Not Al-Qaeda. You said Russia. And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”How’s that one workin’ out, Barry?...“No one [deals unfairly or harshly] with a Biden.”Okay? Get those two ideas squared firmly in your mind: 1) Russia is not a problem because the Democrats are in charge,...

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has said he agrees that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February “would not have happened” if Donald Trump was still U.S. President. Bolsonaro, himself dubbed the ‘Tropical Trump’ or ‘Trump of the Tropics’ during and after his first successful presidential run in 2018, made the remarks in an interview with Brazilian news magazine Veja.

The twists and turns of the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) saga have yielded yet another stunning game-changer. It started with Gazprom revealing that the Line B string of NS2 is intact; not only it escaped Pipeline Terror but may “potentially” be used to pump gas to Germany. That confirms once again that NS2 is an engineering marvel. In fact the whole system: the pipes are so strong they were not broken, but merely punctured. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak followed up, with a caveat: restoration of the whole system, including NS, is possible, and “requires time and…funds”.…. … Subsequently...

Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin has a very simple solution to ending Putin’s war in Ukraine. When asked about an off-ramp for Putin, she replied, “The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. That’s the way out of the conflict.” What more do you need to know?

On Sunday, October 30, 1938, thousands of radio listeners heard terrifying news: aliens had invaded New Jersey. From a New York Daily News article, October 31, 1938: A radio dramatization of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" which thousands of people misunderstood as a news broadcast of a current catastrophe in New Jersey created almost unbelievable scenes of terror in New York, New Jersey, the South and as far west as San Francisco between 8 and 9 o'clock last night. Ridiculous, you say. Why would people believe that aliens had invaded? They believed because it was news. Orson Welles's adaptation...

We are bizarrely one-tracked in our historical memory. Anything we dislike is compared to the Nazis. So, when Vladimir Putin actually invaded a neighbor, he was inevitably likened to Adolf Hitler. But we don’t have to look far to find an apter parallel. In September 1939, Stalin seized the eastern half of Poland. Unlike his Nazi allies, who simply absorbed the territory they wanted, Stalin made the conquered population vote in sham elections. Two congresses were established in eastern Poland — one supposedly representing ethnic Belarusians, the other ethnic Ukrainians. These two assemblies immediately petitioned to join, respectively, the Belarusian...

New interceptions of phone calls of Russian soldiers in Ukraine demonstrate – many of them are in despair and want to save their lives after the start of Ukrainian large-scale counter-offensive on the eastern and southern front lines. At the same time, they are afraid that surrendering is dangerous for them – Russian state propagandists make sure that of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph8z8kTDnbg

My words: Best video I've seen explaining current events happening on the ground in Ukraine and where both sides are at this point along with who is fighting for Ukraine now. Straight facts and honest.

The White House on Tuesday characterized advances by Ukrainian forces against Russia as a “shift in momentum,” but cautioned that the ongoing war in Ukraine remains unpredictable. “I think what you’re seeing is certainly a shift in momentum by the Ukrainian armed forces,” John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters at a briefing.

Ukraine may have captured a Russian general in what would be the highest-ranking of Moscow's officers to be taken prisoner since the Second World War. Video published Wednesday revealed a group of Russian POWs detained by Ukraine amid a surprise counter-attack near the city of Kharkiv, among them a man wearing the uniform of a mid-ranking Lieutenant-Colonel. But Ukrainian media now claims the man is 'likely' to be Andrei Sychevoi, who is actually a high-ranking Lieutenant-General and commander of Russia's Group of Forces West.

Families of Russian troops killed in Ukraine receive compensation, however some receive more than others. A soldier’s life is twice as expensive in Moscow as it is in Yekaterinburg. But a family of a Buryat will receive only a third compared to that of a slain Muscovite. The federal authorities of Russia are supposed to pay families of Russian soldiers killed during the invasion of Ukraine a lump sum of RUB 7.4 (EUR 126,000). Receiving this kind of compensation may be challenging, as the army frequently lists soldiers that have been killed as MIAs, according to the article “‘Private Pivovarov...

Very excellent analysisUkrainians have painted themselves into a corner from which they can no longer use the tactic of falling back from one defensive line after another and have to attack Russians for political reasons. That is allowing Russians to use tried/true Mongol tactics of retreating and luring them into traps.. In fact this latest episode is much closer to the Russian border and will allow Russian airpower to very quickly eliminate any Ukrainian tanks or other vehicles so that it will be just foot soldiers walking into cauldrons of destruction. The Biden family and other US politicians being up...

Vladimir Putin has approved a 31-page "humanitarian policy" which says Russia should "protect, safeguard and advance the traditions and ideals of the Russian World". The foreign policy concept of a "Russian World" is a notion that hardliners have used to justify intervening abroad to support Russian speakers, such as in parts of Ukraine. It means that the idea is now enshrined in official policy, though it was presented as a soft power strategy. The new policy stated that Moscow should further deepen its ties with the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic - two breakaway entities in...

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the bookmakers' favorite to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, but the Kremlin is unlikely to be betting on a different British approach to relations with Moscow, or the war in Ukraine, should she take over from incumbent Boris Johnson. Although enjoying less support among fellow Conservative Party MPs, Truss's greater popularity among grassroots Tories than Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the final run-off has seen Betfair put her odds-on 4/6 to win. If successful, she will be the face of the British response to the war in Ukraine during which she...

Russia slapped Hollywood stars Ben Stiller and Sean Penn with sanctions on Monday in response to their public criticism of Moscow's war on Ukraine. Putin's foreign ministry included the actors on a new list of 25 US citizens banned from the country. Those affected are mainly politicians, trade officials and industrial executives. The sanctions bar them from entering Russia. Stiller and Penn have been vocal supporters of Ukraine in the conflict and have met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in high-profile shows of support. In a televised meeting in Kyiv in June, Stiller, star of Zoolander, Meet the Parents and Dodgeball,...