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Russia has just finished a Potemkin referendum conducted in the illegally occupied Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson (see Vladimir Putin to Address Russia; Annexation of Ukraine Provinces and Mobilization Seem to Be on the Table). The “voting” began on September 23, and the question is whether those provinces wish to be annexed to Russia.There are complicating factors. All four oblasts are on the front line of a war between Putin’s invading army and the armed forces of Ukraine. Many, if not most, of the residents, are refugees. The voting began within 48 hours after the announcement....

STORY: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces are set to hold referendums between 23 and 27 September. Vladimir Vysotsky, the voting chief, showed reporters ballot boxes made of clear plastic, promising the voting process would be “just as transparent”. The stations Vysotsky visited on Thursday were, according to his estimation, 100% ready for polling. ...

Starting last month Ukrainian lawmakers began seeking to implement severe consequences for those participating in Russia-sponsored referendums in occupied territories of Ukraine. For example, a law is being pushed through parliament which criminalizes obtaining a Russian passport in temporarily occupied territories, Ukrainian sources reported last week, according to Yahoo News. Proposed possible punishments have included losing Ukrainian citizenship, or even lengthy jail sentences. But other officials have argued for a more compromising approach given the necessity of survival in occupied areas. But now the Ukrainian government has reiterated its willingness to impose steep penalties for even participating in any Kremlin-sponsored...

Tens of thousands of Serbian Orthodox faithful came out to the Cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade last night for a moleben for the sanctity of marriage and the family and harmony and peace in Serbia celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije. The central streets were “jammed with endless columns of pious people” from across the country, the Serbian Orthodox Church reports. The prayer event comes on the eve of the planned EuroPride, a pan-European LGBT event to be held in Belgrade today through the 18th. The Serbian president earlier announced at least a postponement of the week-long event...

Iranian embassy staff in the Albanian capital worked through the night after they were given 24 hours to leave the country over a major cyberattack that the Albanian government blames on Iran. It is the first known case of a country cutting diplomatic relations over a cyberattack. Movement inside the Iranian embassy in Tirana continued nonstop from Wednesday into Thursday. An empty barrel was seen taken into the compound and later a fire was started in it, apparently burning documents. A diplomatic car went in and out, while an Albanian police officer communicated with the embassy before two officers entered...

Yesterday, September 6, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church made a special statement on the urgent issue of EuroPride. EuroPride is a pan-European LGBT event hosted by a different city ever year, and this year it is planned to be held in Belgrade on September 12-18. The event has proven to be a scandal for traditional Serbian society, and the Orthodox faithful have taken to the streets several times now to prayerfully protest the imposition of LGBT values. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced late last month that EuroPride won’t be held as scheduled on September 12-18 due...

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...

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Saturday that the EuroPride festival won’t be held in Belgrade as scheduled on September 12-18 due to the “significant crisis in Kosovo.” The head of state didn’t announce a total cancelation, but only that the LGBT event can’t be held next month. At the same time, Vučić said he’s “not happy about” the decision to cancel EuroPride, “but we can’t do it all at once,” reports Politico. “Of course this jeopardizes minority rights and that is a problem for us, but at this moment the state is pressured by all kinds of problems,”...

The military in New Zealand says 94 of its members are on leave without pay right now and it's checking to see if any of them are fighting in Ukraine... We still don't know the final results from Alaska's primary elections and the Special Election for the state's US House seat on Tuesday August 16th... Wall Street with a big dive today... The Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in the United States amidst an expected nuclear deal bringing the US back into the JCPOA agreement with Iran... Russia says that Syrian crews used Russian anti-aircraft missiles during yesterday evening's Israeli...

Last night, thousands of Serbs marched through the main streets of Belgrade in protest of the Euro Pride march expected to be held in the capital city next month. Estimates of the number of participants vary. Balkan Insight reports 5-10,000 people, while Danas reports more than 10,000. According to the Ukrainian outlet Strana, local Serbian outlets are reporting more than 50,000 participants. The procession began in front of the Serbian Patriarchate administration and ended at the Church of St. Mark. Marchers bore crosses and icons of Christ, the Theotokos, and various saints, chanting prayers and shouting various slogans: “We...

After lying for months, the media are preparing the public for Ukraine’s military collapse.

Air raid sirens were heard in Mitrovica in northern Kosovo on Sunday afternoon, with reports by local media indicating that a large presence of emergency vehicles was seen throughout the area. The sirens were stopped after three hours, according to local reports. The sirens come as Kosovo officials prepared to require Serbians visiting Kosovo to replace their Serbian passports with a temporary ID while in the country and to require Serbian license plates in the country to be replaced with Kosovar license plates. The decision was made as a reciprocatory move to similar requirements already issued for Kosovars when they...

Allies are increasingly divided on further heavy-weapons shipments to KyivCracks are appearing in the Western front against Moscow, with America’s European allies increasingly split over whether to keep shipping more powerful weapons to Ukraine, which some of them fear could prolong the conflict and increase its economic fallout.

As the war in Ukraine rages, Serbia's president announced that he has secured an "extremely favorable" natural gas deal with Russia during a telephone conversation Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has refused to explicitly condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Serbia has not joined Western sanctions against Moscow. Vucic, a former pro-Russian ultranationalist, claims that he wants to take Serbia into the European Union but has spent recent years cementing ties with Russia, a long-time ally.“The free leader, free people, make decisions that are good for Serbia and do not accept orders” from the West,...

The poor performance of Russian equipment deployed in the Ukraine war is bound to be giving global buyers second thoughts.How can it be that a large Russian army attacking force, capable of causing untold destruction, is being checkmated and systematically devastated by Ukraine’s military, in particular its special forces?And what impact will this have on the Russian army and its industrial backbone, the Russian companies that build the tanks, armored personnel carriers, mobile air defenses and aircraft including fixed-wing and helicopters ­– all of which have suffered extreme losses in the conflict?Russia’s exports consist of various commodities, most prominently wheat,...

Less than 25 years after American and NATO intervention ended a brutal war in the Balkans, one party to the conflict is swaggering and boasting over its new military hardware. Serbia on Saturday publicly displayed a Chinese anti-aircraft missile system, according to The Associated Press. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the missiles give Serbia a “powerful deterrent” against all threats. “We will no longer allow [ourselves] to be a punching bag for anyone,” Vucic said after the display, according to the AP. The wire service interpreted that comment as a reference to the 1999 bombardment of Serbia in 199 after...

Serbia's Novak Djokovic holds the winners trophy as he poses for photographers after he defeated Italy's Matteo Berrettini in the men's singles final on day thirteen of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, July 11, 2021. Novak Djokovic will be allowed to defend his title at Wimbledon, despite not being vaccinated against COVID-19, because the shots are not required to enter Britain, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic will be allowed to defend his Wimbledon title despite being unvaccinated against COVID-19. The All England Lawn Tennis...

"I do not believe that there was anything we could have done to prevent this," Clinton said during a talk at Brown University.

China’s air force flew 12 covert sorties to Serbia at the weekend, which state media said delivered three Chinese anti-aircraft missile systems in the biggest overseas airlift involving its Y-20 transport planes.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region. Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade’s civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military. The Chinese cargo planes with military markings were pictured at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport. Serbia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond...