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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....

As Russia pummels Ukraine in an invasion waged on Thursday, Moscow’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, leveled the same type of sentiment at Israel as the Kremlin did towards Ukraine. “We’re concerned over Tel Aviv’s announced plans for expanding settlement activity in the occupied Golan Heights, which contradicts the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention. Russia doesn’t recognize Israel’s sovereignty over Golan Heights that are part of Syria,” he tweeted. Putin refused to recognize republics Donetsk and Luhansk as sovereign Ukraine like the Golan. Interestingly, Polyanskiy referred to Israel’s capital as Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem. Russia has...

The United Nations is a completely corrupt organization that gives cover to tyrants and pedophiles, and that has made destroying Israel its primary focus. On Wednesday, even as Russian troops were massed on Ukraine's border, the U.N. Security Council found time to hold a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Just to show how farcical the United Nations is, despite Russia being poised to attack Ukraine, the U.N. Security Council nevertheless followed its usual leadership rotation, making Vladimir Putin the Security Council chairman. Thus, Russia helmed the meeting regarding the U.N.'s obsession: Israel.The meeting occurred just a few hours after Israel announced...

State Department pushes back on signature Trump admin foreign policy decision The Biden administration is walking back the United States' historic recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region along Israel's northern border, a significant blow to the Jewish state and one of the Trump administration's signature foreign policy decisions. The Trump administration declared the territory—seized by Israel from Syria in 1967 and later annexed by the country—to be wholly part of the Jewish state in 2019. Then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo took a trip to the area in 2020 and reaffirmed that America formally abandoned a decades-long...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed plans to construct a new settlement in the Golan Heights named after President Trump. The funding for “Trump Heights” was approved on Sunday, which will allocate $2.3 million towards the settlement. This big move expressed gratitude for President Trump’s decision to steer clear from prior foreign policies that actively worked against the state of Israel. “Today, we will begin practical steps to construct the settlement ‘Trump Heights’ in the Golan Heights, which Israel’s sovereignty over it was recognized by President Trump,” stated the prime minister. (more at link)

Syria’s air defenses responded to an Israeli attack in the Damascus countryside, according to state media. The report comes after a blast near Israel’s nuclear plant, which IDF pinned on a missile launched from Syria. The Israeli strike reportedly targeted a site in al-Dumayr, located some 24 miles (40km) from the Syrian capital, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported early on Thursday morning. The country’s air defenses were said to have intercepted “most of the enemy missiles,” according to a military spokesman. “The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with bursts of missiles from the direction of the...

Syrian and Russian warplanes on Tuesday carried out military drills amid increasing Israeli strikes, according to a military statement released by Syrian defense ministry. The drills and patrols took place near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in southern Syria and also in the northern and eastern parts of Syria. Two Russian SU-35 jets and six Syrian MIG warplanes took part in the drills...

President Joe Biden told the United Nations on Wednesday the Palestinians are “entitled” to their own state, a day after the U.S. State Department announced $64 million in aid to the U.N. agency for so-called Palestinian refugees. “We will continue to advocate for a lasting, negotiated peace between the Jewish and democratic state of Israel and the Palestinian people,” Biden said during his address at the U.N. General Assembly.

Germany’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, has revised its code of conduct to require support for Israel’s right to exist, and employees who fail to do so may now be fired. The move announced Sept. 1 preceded a court order last week that DW reinstate a former employee fired who was fired after the company determined she had made comments about Israel that could be construed as antisemitic. In all, seven employees from the broadcaster’s Arabic service were let go last year on similar grounds, and so far two have successfully sued DW for reinstatement. The revised conduct code appears to...

After the fighting between Israel and Hamas in 2012, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced that he wanted to visit Gaza.“I congratulate Ismail Haniyeh (the Hamas prime minister) on the victory in Gaza,” he said.Marzouki had previously met with delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. His support for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group was so blatant that even the PLO had warned him not to come to Gaza. After leaving office, Marzouki boarded the Hamas flotilla invading Israel. When the flotilla was intercepted, Israel deported him. These days, Tunisia doesn’t want him either.But Massachusetts does.More recently an arrest warrant was issued...

What was an Orthodox Jewish man doing working for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, arguably the world’s most vocal antisemite?17 when Orthodox Jewish lobbyist Nicholas Muzin was paid millions of dollars to lobby for the Emir of Qatar to introduce him to the leaders of right-wing pro-Israel organizations, in an effort to curry favor with a Qatar-weary Donald Trump. Some of the most important right-wing activists for Israel were later ensnared in the controversy, exposed by national media outlets and in a huge investigative story by The Wall Street Journal. All said that they were traveling to Doha for Israel, even as,...

PM Mishustin would become acting president and elections would be held, but experts say the substance of a post-Putin Russia is tough to predict. In recent months, the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of much speculation, with claims that he has cancer, Parkinson’s, or has even survived an assassination attempt. But so far, no doctor’s note has been produced. “He can stay in power for 10 years or more if he wants, it really depends on the circumstances,” political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya told Al Jazeera. “I wouldn’t really pay too much attention to the problem...

Government appears to turn blind eye to sale, opting not to torpedo deal for ‘advanced defensive technology’ that Defense Ministry has barred companies from supplying to Kyiv. An Israeli defense contractor is supplying anti-drone systems to Ukraine’s military by way of Poland, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael reported Monday. A source in the firm told Zman that the equipment was being sold to Poland to circumvent Israel’s refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine. The company reported to the Defense Ministry that the sale was to Poland and appeared to be claiming not to be aware...

The visit, which comes at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, will last for several days and aims to discuss prospects for bilateral relations to serve the Palestinian cause. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with a delegation of the Palestinian movement Hamas, headed by political bureau chairman Ismail Haniyeh, in Moscow on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "On September 12, … Lavrov hosted … Haniyeh, who is in Moscow as the head of the delegation of this Palestinian movement. During the conversation, the main attention was paid to the development of the situation in the Middle East...

Raging Russian nationalists called on Sunday for President Vladimir Putin to make immediate changes to ensure victory in the Ukraine war after troops were forced to retreat amid a series of strong Ukrainian counterattacks. Ukraine's troops on Saturday stormed east out of second city Kharkiv, smashing through Russian lines and liberating huge swathes of territory, including the key strategic city of Izyum along with several key transport and logistics hubs supporting Putin's men in the Donbas. The news prompted Chechen leader and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov to publish an 11-minute-long rant on the Telegram messaging app, declaring that 'changes must...

Negotiations Russia "does not reject" negotiations with Ukraine, but there are some "delays that complicate the process" of negotiations. This was said by Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov quoted by Tass. In an interview with Rossiya-1 television, Lavrov reported that Vladimir Putin convened a meeting with the Duma, the lower house of parliament, and leaders of the different factions. "The president told the participants that we do not reject negotiations," Lavrov stressed, but he accused the Ukrainians of delaying the process of negotiations. Kiev, Putin said again according to Lavrov's account, "should understand that the longer it delays the process, the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to walk with a limp as he attended Russia's major Vostok war games today, raising fresh doubts over his health. The Russian leader, 69, observed the major military exercises from inside a command post while sitting next to his defence minister Sergei Shoigu who is said to have been 'sidelined' by Putin due to Russia's heavy losses in Ukraine. As Putin arrived at the command post at the Sergeyevsky training range in Russia's Far East, he appeared to be walking with a limp when he crossed the room to watch the war games. Video shows...

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Will the Su-75 “Checkmate” Reach Serial Production? – Earlier this month, it was reported that Russia’s highly-touted Su-75 “Checkmate” won’t make its maiden flight until at least some time in 2024 at the very earliest. However, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) – a division of the state-owned military-tech conglomerate Rostec – also announced that it would build four prototypes of the lightweight single-engine fighter in the coming months, with a goal to launch Checkmate serial production just three years later. “We use advanced super-computer technologies in the Checkmate project, which enables us to cut substantially the timeframe of building the...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...