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In recent weeks, optimism has been the main feature of analysis regarding Ukraine’s chances this summer, as Kyiv gears up for a major offensive. The failure of Russian forces to gain any significant territory since the winter has, quite understandably, excited Western pundits. But there is a risk that we are over-estimating Kyiv’s abilities and becoming complacent in the process.Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, is now trying to damp down expectations. “It is definitely overheated – everyone wants another victory,” he says. “We didn’t believe in victory before. We used to want Ukraine to survive at least minimally.” His words...

Russia today boasted its missile strikes were 'right on target' in a sickening Telegram post made just hours after Vladimir Putin unleashed a barrage of rockets on Ukrainian homes. More than 20 cruise missiles and two drones were fired at cities and towns across Ukraine that were miles away from the front lines, killing at least 23 civilians including a mother and her two-year-old daughter as they slept inside their homes. Families were blown to pieces, with many victims buried amongst the rubble of their homes, as Russia's missiles thundered through the air and smashed into residential buildings. Five hours...

Twitchy US NEWS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT CARTOONS Premium Content My Account × Search twitchy.com.... Tucker Carlson BUSTS government and the media wide open in BRUTAL monologue on the leaker (watch) Posted at 9:56 am on April 14, 2023 by Sam Janney Tucker Carlson was on fire last night during his monologue on the leaker, the media, the lies we’ve been fed about the Ukrainian war by our own government, and so much more. As usual, Tucker put into words what so many Americans are thinking and feeling. #Thread Tucker Carlson's Monologue On The Leaked U.S. Military Intelligence Exposing The Lies About...

Fighters of Russia's Wagner mercenary group have captured two more areas of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday. Wagner has spearheaded Russia's attempt to take Bakhmut since last summer in what has been the longest and deadliest battle of the war for both sides.

SACRAMENTO -- A Lodi ice cream vendor pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge of trying to smuggle cash to Pakistan rather than be retried on allegations that he lied to the FBI about his son's attendance at a terrorist training camp. Umer Hayat, 48, was convicted of lying to customs agents about more than $28,000 he and family members were trying to carry on a flight out of the country three years ago. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges that he lied to the FBI and he will serve no more jail time after spending nearly a year behind bars....

She tells judge in Lodi case she regrets her guilty vote and accuses jury foreman of misconduct -- other panelists deny it. Sacramento -- One of 12 jurors who convicted a 23-year-old Lodi man Tuesday on charges that he trained for holy war disavowed the verdict late Thursday, alleging that she was bullied into a guilty finding amid a pattern of misconduct by fellow panelists. "I never once throughout the deliberation process and the reading of the verdict believed Hamid Hayat to be guilty," Arcelia Lopez, a 44-year-old school nurse from Sacramento, said in a 2,000-word affidavit filed to the...

An FBI informant testified Monday in Sacramento federal court that al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, lived in Lodi during parts of 1998 and 1999. Naseem Khan, who is a critical prosecution witness in the trials of two Lodi men charged with having terrorist ties, testified he was living in Lodi in 1998 and 1999 and "every time I would go to the mosque (al-Zawahri) would be coming or going" from the mosque. Khan said al-Zawahri, known to the FBI as Osama bin Laden’s personal physician and top adviser, "disappeared" sometime in 1999.

Federal officials believe they have broken up an al Qaeda terror cell operating in Lodi and have arrested two men and detained two others as part of a wide-ranging investigation, authorities said Tuesday. One of the men arrested, 22-year-old Hamid Hayat, is accused in a federal criminal complaint of training in an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan to learn “how to kill Americans” and then lying to FBI agents about it. His training included explosives and weapons instruction and using photographs of President Bush as targets, court documents indicate. More:http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/v-print/story/13022958p-13869232c.html