Palestine Open Thread 2025-082

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-081

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-080

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

Growth Of Ukraine's Azov Units Follow Path Of The Waffen-SS

The rise of Nazism in Germany was accompanied by the rise of its armed militants. These were used to fight opposing political parties and militia formations. They were ruthless.

The units were later known as the Waffen-SS:

After release from prison Hitler decided that he needed a paramilitary group to protect him personally. That group should be steadfastly faithful and loyal to him alone; not least to protect him from possible SA intrigues. Therefore Hitler established a personal bodyguard in his hometown München (Munich). Initially this group numbered only ten men with one officer. It was first called "Stoßtruppe Hitler" (Shock Troops Hitler). Again the title derived from divisional assaults groups from World War I. Later it was renamed "Schutz Staffel" (SS or Protection Squad).
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By 1932 the SS had some 30,000 men, ...
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In March 1935 Hitler renounced the Treaty of Versailles and announced the expansion of the German Army and the formation of the SS Verfügungstruppen (SS VT or SS special purpose troops) as the core of a full military division. This unit was financed by the police budget to counter any Army fears.

After the start of the war the 'armed evil' grew further:

By 1939, four regiments (Standarten) had been organized.
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During the following winter and spring, regiments that had fought in Poland were expanded into brigades and later divisions. ... These three divisions were to be the nucleus of the Waffen-SS in its subsequent rapid expansion.
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At the end of 1940, the Waffen-SS numbered slightly more than 150,000 men. By June 1944, it had grown to 594,000. Intended as an elite force, the Waffen-SS evolved due to the exigencies of war from the original SS concept of a military organization imbued with Nazi ideology and loyalty to Hitler into a polyglot force of decreasing combat effectiveness.

The Waffen-SS was not part of the regular army. It had its own financial resources. It recruited and trained its own officers through Nazi youth organizations. These were 'true believers' .

There are a lot of parallels between the rise of the Waffen SS and the Ukrainian Nazi formation known as Azov.

Cont. reading: Growth Of Ukraine's Azov Units Follow Path Of The Waffen-SS

Ukraine Confirms Sumy Strike Target - Russian Build Up For Summer Campaign

Yesterday I reported of Sunday's missile attack in Sumy, Ukraine:

There was a ceremony planned for the seventh anniversary of the founding of the 117th Territorial Brigade. This was to take place in the congress center of the Sumy State University. Medals were to be presented for the recent participation of the brigade in the attack on the Russian oblast of Kursk. Invitations to the commanders of neighboring units were sent out.
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The Russian military got wind of the event and destroyed the congress center (pics) with two Iskander missiles. There were military and civilian casualties. But under the rules of war the strike was on a legitimate target.

Ukrainian politicians had alleged that the head of the Sumy Oblast State Administration Volodymyr Artiukh had send out the invitation for the event and had arranged for the military ceremony to take place in the middle of the city.

The government of Ukraine essentially confirmed that today by removing Artiukh from his position:

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the dismissal of Volodymyr Artiukh from the post of head of Sumy Oblast State Administration and the appointment of Oleh Hryhorov to this position.

Konotop Mayor Artem Semenikhin accused Volodymyr Artiukh, Head of Sumy Oblast State Administration, of organising a gathering of soldiers from the 117th Brigade for an award ceremony in the centre of Sumy on 13 April.

Artiukh acknowledged that an award ceremony for servicemen took place in the city centre, but did not name the initiator.

Do not expect any western mainstream media to report these facts.

I have for quite some time not reported on the progress of the war in Ukraine. That is not because nothing is happening there. The Russian forces are pressing on all fronts while building up their reserves. Most of the many small pushes are successful but the current progress isn't measured in miles per day.

This is an attrition war. The capturing of land, which still happens, is not the measure of success. The destruction of the enemy's material and personnel resources is what matters. In this regard the Russian forces are making good progress. Over the last month the daily Ukrainian casualties as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense have crept up from a low of about 1,200 per day to some 1,500 per day now. That is still far away from the 2,500 per day reported during the summer and fall of 2024 but still a noticeable increase.

There is also an intensification of air and drone strikes on military factories far behind the frontlines. Instead of once or twice per week these are now a daily occurrence. The results of these strikes are only rarely reported. They do not have an immediate effect on the fighting. But they will over time diminish Ukraine's resources and its supplies of weapons and munition.

The ground in Ukraine is still muddy. Only when it dries up will we see a general campaign by the Russian forces.

They will look for weak spots in Ukraine's defense lines and push on each of those until one or more breakthroughs occur. Fresh forces will then moved up to exploit the breaches.

Palm Sunday Attacks On Sumy And Al-Ahli

In yesterday's week-in-review I had linked to a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy:

Russia launched a missile attack on the center of Sumy. More than 30 people were killed - Strana

Machine translation:

This morning, the Russians fired two ballistic missiles at the center of Sumy. 31 people were killed, including 2 children.

84 people were injured, including 10 children.

The Prosecutor General's Office reported that at about 10:15, the Russian military launched two missile strikes on the center of the city of Sumy. Rescue operations are continuing, the number of victims is being specified.

One of the pictures Strana provided showed the destroyed congress center of the Sumy State University .

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Shortly after the incident the Member of the Rada Mariana Bezuglaya accused the military command of staging a ceremony in the city despite it being less than 20 kilometer from the active fighting front (machine translation):

Cont. reading: Palm Sunday Attacks On Sumy And Al-Ahli

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-079

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-078

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-077

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

• Apr 7 - Trump To Eliminate Capital Gains
• Apr 9 - Some Fall-Out From The Tariff Wars
• Apr 10 - Trump's Market Whiplash Continues
• Apr 12 - Tariffs - Trump Blinks Again
  Related:
  - Trump’s China tariff shocks US importers. One CEO calls it ‘end of days’ - AP
  - Pharmaceutical Tariffs: The What and the How - Science
  - Trump, Tariffs and Trade - Craig Murray
  - Trump Axes a Stricken World Order -- But There's Opportunity Amidst the Turmoil - Conflicts Forum
  - Chartbook 372 "We create our own reality" - Trump's delirious negative-sum populism, or how the Empire comes home. - Adam Tooze

• Apr 8 - An Economic Advisor's Weird Theory
  Related:
  - Treasury yields soar as bond rout intensifies (archived) - FT
  - The real bond vigilantes hounding Trump are Asian - Asia Times
  - ‘This is Not Normal’: Trump’s Tariffs Upend the Bond Market (archived) - New York Times
  In the usually steady government bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury has risen to about 4.5 percent from less than 4 percent at the end of last week.
  - Top Trade Expert Says Trump Tariff Pause Lays Bare ‘Just One More Con on Working People’ - Naked Capitalism

• Apr 12 - War With Iran?
  Related:
  - Iran and US hold ‘productive’ nuclear talks in Oman as Trump rushes for new deal - Independent
  - Indirect but impactful: Iran-US talks mediated by Oman off to a ‘constructive’ start - PressTV

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Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-077

Tariffs - Trump Blinks Again

On Thursday President Trump pulled back on tariffs because a sell-off in treasuries threatened to develop into a serious economic catastrophe.

Tariffs were reduced to 10% for most countries but China. (10% is still a lot higher than they were before Trump started his tariff onslaught.) The tariffs on products from China were raised to a total of 145%.

The high China tariffs would inevitably lead to a steep raise of U.S. prices for consumer electronics which, at least partially, are nowadays coming from China. For big U.S. companies, foremost Apple, this would have entailed large losses.

So Trump blinked again:

US excludes smartphones, computers from Trump's reciprocal tariffs - Reuters, Apr 12 2025

The Trump administration has granted tariff exclusions for smartphones, computers and other electronics imports supplied largely by China, sparing them from much of President Donald Trump's steep 125% duties.

In a notice to shippers, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes that will be excluded from the duties. The exclusions are retroactively to 12:01 a.m. on April 5.

The U.S. CBP listed 20 product categories, including the very broad 8471 code for all computers, laptops and disc drives and automatic data processing. It also included semiconductor devices, equipment, memory chips and flat panel displays.

The notice did not provide an explanation for the Trump administration's move, but the late-night exclusion provides welcome relief to major U.s. technology firms, including Apple Dell Technologies and countless other importers.

The full list of the new tariff exceptions is here.

This is a curious way to 1. undermining U.S. manufacturing and 2. to increase the trade imbalance.

High price, high technology products can now be imported from China with low tariffs applied to them while low tech intermediate goods from China, which U.S. producers need for their products, will have super high tariffs on them.

If this stands it will lead to more low tech production of intermediate goods within the U.S. while the high tech production will stay and expand in China.

China had retaliated to the U.S. tariffs by applying a 125% tariff on all U.S. products. It is unlikely to exempt specific categories from that. At rates above 100% trade between China and the U.S. will within a short timeframe come to a complete halt.

The U.S. has now exempted some 22% in value of its previous imports from China from tariffs while China keeps tariffs on all U.S. products high. The trade between the two countries will thereby become more unbalanced than ever before.

The U.S. will continue to import 22% of its previous imports from China while its exports to China will shrink to zero. The absolute trade imbalance will thereby be higher than it was before Trump started his tariff war.

All this is a curious way of acknowledging defeat in the war. The rolling of heads will start tomorrow.