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Rape Allegations Against Russian Troops In Ukraine Were Fake
There is a first and still very low noise signal that the Zelenski regime in Kiev is coming apart.
Six weeks ago there were suddenly many claims that Russian soldiers in Ukraine had raped people.
Time headlined:
Ukrainians Who Have Been Raped by Russian Troops Are Refusing to Stay Silent
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Lyudmyla Denisova said that 25 teenage girls were kept in a basement in Bucha and gang-raped; nine of them are now pregnant. Elderly women spoke on camera about being raped by Russian soldiers. The bodies of children were found naked with their hands tied behind their backs, their genitals mutilated. Those victims included both girls and boys, and Ukrainian men and boys have been sexually assaulted in other incidents. A group of Ukrainian women POWs had their heads shaved in Russian captivity, where they were also stripped naked and forced to squat.
Eager anti-Russian activists were spreading those dubious claims:
Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe – 23:21 UTC · Apr 20, 2022
"25 teenage girls were gang-raped; 9 are now pregnant. Elderly women spoke about being raped by Russian soldiers. The bodies of children were found naked with their hands tied behind their backs, their genitals mutilated." A harrowing read, by @Amie_FR. Link to Time report
Quoting Julia Joffe's tweet I immediately dismissed those claims:
Moon of Alabama @MoonofA – 8:44 UTC · Apr 21, 2022
Such accusations of mass rape by the enemy de jour are made in every war (Libya, Syria) . They rarely turn out to be true.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Libyan_rape_allegations
It turns out that my hunch was right:
Cont. reading: Rape Allegations Against Russian Troops In Ukraine Were Fake
Ukraine Bits: Russian Artillery – Counter Attacks – New Missile Systems
The amount of copium available for Ukraine fans seems to be dwindling.
More mainstream media now report on the huge damage the Russian artillery is causing to the Ukrainian frontline troops. Even the New York Times joined in:
Under the fire of Russia’s long-range arsenal and facing a desperate need for ammunition and weapons, Ukrainian forces remain outgunned on the long and pockmarked eastern front, according to military analysts, Ukrainian officials and soldiers on the ground.
Just one engagement on Thursday and Friday on a small swath of the line, in a forest north of the town of Sloviansk, sent about a dozen Ukrainian soldiers to a military hospital with harrowing shrapnel wounds.
“You ask how the fighting is going,” said Oleksandr Kolesnikov, the commander of a company of soldiers fighting in the forest, interviewed on an ambulance gurney outside a military hospital in Kramatorsk. “There was a commander of the company. He was killed. There was another commander. He was killed. A third commander was wounded. I am the fourth.”
Another example from the Washington Post:
Cont. reading: Ukraine Bits: Russian Artillery – Counter Attacks – New Missile Systems
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-77
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict …
The open thread for other issues is here.
The MoA Week In Review – (NOT Ukraine) OT 2022-76
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-75
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict …
The open thread for other issues is here.
As Things Fall Apart Biden May Want To Escalate
Is reality setting in? Is that why a Washington Post reporter, who has been on the frontline in Ukraine, was allowed to write this?
Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned
[A]fter three months of war, this company of 120 men is down to 54 because of deaths, injuries and desertions.
The volunteers were civilians before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, and they never expected to be dispatched to one of the most dangerous front lines in eastern Ukraine. They quickly found themselves in the crosshairs of war, feeling abandoned by their military superiors and struggling to survive.
In mid February these people were still civilians in some town in west Ukraine. They then 'volunteered', to avoid a draft into the army, for the territorial defense forces with the hope to serve near their homes:
Lapko, built like a wrestler, was made a company commander in the 5th Separate Rifle Battalion, in charge of 120 men. The similarly burly Khrus became a platoon commander under Lapko. All of their comrades were from western Ukraine. They were handed AK-47 rifles and given training that lasted less than a half-hour.
“We shot 30 bullets and then they said, ‘You can’t get more; too expensive,’ ” Lapko said.
They were given orders to head to the western city of Lviv. When they got there, they were ordered to go south and then east into Luhansk province in Donbas, portions of which were already under the control of Moscow-backed separatists and are now occupied by Russian forces.
The men were put into a frontline ditch and have since been shelled again and again without any ability to respond. They then disregarded the orders from above and left. They have now be arrested.
Cont. reading: As Things Fall Apart Biden May Want To Escalate
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-74
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict …
The open thread for other issues is here.
Open Thread (NOT Ukraine) 2022-73
News & views not related to Ukraine …
Ukraine Propaganda – BBC Tries To Sell Telegram Rumors That Make No Sense
Flag Abuse And Other Bits On Ukraine
The Pentagon reports about the continuing efforts to sell new U.S. weapons to those nations which discard their old ones in Ukraine.
Austin Hosts Ukraine Defense Contact Group to Continue Support for Beleaguered Country
To express the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine the Pentagon decided to hoist Ukraine's blue-above-yellow flag upside down.
bigger
Hanging a flag upside down is a sign of either dire distress or cultural ignorance. Given that this was a Pentagon event the later is the more likely to be the case.
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The Baltic nutters have a another great and of course completely impractical idea.
Cont. reading: Flag Abuse And Other Bits On Ukraine
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-72
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict …
The open thread for other issues is here.
White House Rejects President’s Foreign Policy
U.S. President Joe Biden apparently pursues different foreign policies than the White House.
October 23 2021:
'Strategic Ambiguity' on Taiwan Apparent as White House Walks Back Biden Comments
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday appeared to walk back President Joe Biden's statement on Thursday that the United States was committed to defending Taiwan should it come under Chinese attack.
"The president was not announcing any change in our policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy," Psaki said during a White House news briefing. "Our defense relationship with Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act."
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act states that the U.S. will provide arms for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability. It does not say the U.S. would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
Psaki's statement stands in contradiction to Biden's comment at a CNN town hall Thursday night. When asked if the U.S. would come to the defense of Taiwan, Biden said, "Yes, we have a commitment to do that."
November 17 2021:
Biden Struggles to Stick to the Script on Taiwan
Cont. reading: White House Rejects President’s Foreign Policy
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-71
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict …
The open thread for other issues is here.
The MoA Week In Review – (NOT Ukraine) OT 2022-70
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
> Above all, this is an operation of necessity for Russia, not of choice. Paradoxically, the choice was entirely up to the US and NATO to appreciate that there is nothing like absolute security. Wasn’t it the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who once said, “Absolute security for one state means absolute insecurity for all others.” <
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Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – (NOT Ukraine) OT 2022-70
No, The Ukraine War Has Not Stoked A Global Food Crisis.
Russia is falsely accused of blocking Ukraine's sea ports and thereby increasing a global food shortage:
The United Nations has warned that the war in Ukraine has helped to stoke a global food crisis that could last years if it goes unchecked, as the World Bank announced an additional $12bn in funding to mitigate its “devastating effects”.
UN secretary general António Guterres said shortages of grain and fertiliser caused by the war, warming temperatures and pandemic-driven supply problems threaten to “tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity”, as financial markets saw share prices fall heavily again on fears of inflation and a worldwide recession.
Speaking at a UN meeting in New York on global food security, he said what could follow would be “malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years”, as he and others urged Russia to release Ukrainian grain exports.
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Before the invasion in February, Ukraine was seen as the world’s bread basket, exporting 4.5m tonnes of agricultural produce per month through its ports – 12% of the planet’s wheat, 15% of its corn and half of its sunflower oil.
But with the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and others cut off from the world by Russian warships, the supply can travel only on congested land routes that are far less efficient.
It is not Russia that is withholding Ukrainian grain or cutting off its seaports. Ukraine does that all by itself. As the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine reports:
Cont. reading: No, The Ukraine War Has Not Stoked A Global Food Crisis.
Ukraine SitRep – Russians Break Through U.S. Bolsterism
On May 14 I noted that the U.S. had asked Russia for a ceasefire in Ukraine:
The U.S. readout of the call says:
On May 13, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu for the first time since February 18. Secretary Austin urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.
Austin initiated the call and the U.S. is seeking a ceasefire in Ukraine!!!
Yesterday the top officers of the U.S. and Russia had a call which, again, the U.S. side had initiated:
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, held a conversation that the Pentagon declined to further detail beyond acknowledging it had happened.
Thinks must be bad in Ukraine for this to have happened. Indeed if one trusts the daily 'clobber list' the Russian Ministry of Defense puts out all positions of the Ukrainian army are under heavy artillery fire and it is losing about 500 men per day. There are additional Russian effective strikes on training camps, weapon storage sites and transport hubs all over the country.
On top of that the tactical situation at the eastern frontline has changed after Russian forces broke through the heavily fortified frontline.
Source: liveuamap.com – bigger
Cont. reading: Ukraine SitRep – Russians Break Through U.S. Bolsterism
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-69
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict …
The open thread for other issues is here.
Open Thread 2022-68 (Not Ukraine)
News & views NOT related to the Ukraine conflict …
How Europe Was Pushed Towards Economic Suicide
With the active help from Europe's 'leadership' the U.S. is succeeding in ruining Europe.
As Michael Hudson, a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, wrote in early February, before Russia's intervention in Ukraine:
America no longer has the monetary power and seemingly chronic trade and balance-of-payments surplus that enabled it to draw up the world’s trade and investment rules in 1944-45. The threat to U.S. dominance is that China, Russia and Mackinder’s Eurasian World Island heartland are offering better trade and investment opportunities than are available from the United States with its increasingly desperate demand for sacrifices from its NATO and other allies.
The most glaring example is the U.S. drive to block Germany from authorizing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to obtain Russian gas for the coming cold weather. Angela Merkel agreed with Donald Trump to spend $1 billion building a new LNG port to become more dependent on highly priced U.S. LNG. (The plan was cancelled after the U.S. and German elections changed both leaders.) But Germany has no other way of heating many of its houses and office buildings (or supplying its fertilizer companies) than with Russian gas.
The only way left for U.S. diplomats to block European purchases is to goad Russia into a military response and then claim that avenging this response outweighs any purely national economic interest. As hawkish Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained in a State Department press briefing on January 27: “If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” The problem is to create a suitably offensive incident and depict Russia as the aggressor.
In mid February OSCE observer noted that the artillery bombardment of Donbas by the Ukrainians increased from a handful to over 2,000 explosions per day. Russia reacted to these attack preparations by recognizing the Donbas republics, signing defense agreements with them and by finally coming to their help.
Shortly after the launch of the Russian military operation Professor Hudson further developed his earlier thoughts:
Cont. reading: How Europe Was Pushed Towards Economic Suicide
Ukraine – For Laughs
'Western' media are nothing but Zelenski regime megaphones.
Liveuamap @Liveuamap – 21:30 UTC · May 16, 2022
Zelensky confirms Azovstal troops evacuation: «Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This has been our principle»
https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/16-may… via @myroslavapetsa
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The New York Times @nytimes – 22:59 UTC · May 16, 2022
Breaking News: Ukraine ended its “combat mission” in Mariupol and said fighters were being evacuated, signaling that the battle at a steel plant was over.
link
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CNN International @cnni – 23:39 UTC · May 16, 2022
Ukrainian forces say they have ended their "combat mission" in besieged Mariupol, as hundreds are evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant. https://cnn.it/3FQALcV
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Reuters @Reuters – 3:35 AM · May 17, 2022
Ukraine's military said it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from their last stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol, ceding control of the city to Russia after months of bombardment https://reut.rs/3wlYbUG
From the false headline down the Washington Post report on the issue is a master piece of propaganda:
Cont. reading: Ukraine – For Laughs
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