Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
- Sep 12 – Russia Retaliates For Ukrainian Strikes On Russian Controlled Electricity Networks
- Sep 13 – A Peace Proposal For Ukraine
- Sep 14 – The Kharkov Counterattack – No Big Success – No Large Defeat
- Sep 15 – Ukraine SitRep – Hit On Dam Endangers Ukrainian Troops – Russians Defeat More Counterattacks
- Sep 16 – Ukraine – Dissecting Some War Propaganda News Items
- Sep 17 – Ukraine – Dissecting Some War Propaganda News Items – Addendum
Related:
– The ideology of the banderists – Voltaire Net
– JOHN PILGER: Silencing the Lambs — How Propaganda Works – Consortium News
– Zelensky and NATO plan to transform post-war Ukraine into ‘a big Israel’ – Grayzone
– Zelenskyy Says Post-war Ukraine Will Emulate Israel, Won’t Be ‘Liberal, European’ – Haaretz
– Ukraine Wants the U.S. to Send More Powerful Weapons. Biden Is Not So Sure. – New York Times – Sep 16
> American officials believe they have, so far, succeeded at “boiling the frog” — increasing their military, intelligence and economic assistance to Ukraine step by step, without provoking Moscow into large-scale retaliation with any major single move. <
– The ‘Wild Field’ Where Putin Sowed the Seeds of War – New York Times – Sep 17
> Columns of dark green military trucks and American-made rocket launchers are thundering down the long, straight highways into the Donbas. But they will have a much harder fight on their hands.
…
“I’d go into the supermarket to buy some meat, and the shopkeeper tells me, ‘If you don’t speak Ukrainian, I’m not going to sell you any meat,’” Mr. Tsyhankov said. “I’ve been speaking Russian my whole life. How do you think that made me feel?”
…
At 9 p.m. on July 9, four cruise missiles slammed into a dormitory at the old ceramic plant. The buildings crumbled as if they were made out of sand. Viacheslav Boitsov, an emergency services official, said there were “no military facilities nearby.”But according to Mr. Mohyla and Oleksandr Nevydomskyi, another Ukrainian military officer, Ukrainian soldiers were staying in that building.
…
Every night, the horizon in Chasiv Yar lights up with explosions. Ukrainian soldiers operate here almost as if they are on enemy territory, hiving themselves off from the public, watching their backs, traveling by night in long convoys of cars with the lights blacked out, the drivers wearing night vision goggles.
– Russian sanctions slow to bite as US officials admit frustrations over pace of pain in Moscow – CNN
> The hope had been that the sanctions would quickly choke off Russia’s war machine in Ukraine, making it difficult for the Kremlin to sustain its efforts on the battlefield — and perhaps even turn public opinion against the invasion when day-to-day life in Russian society became uncomfortable.
But the Russian economy has proven far more resilient than many top Biden administration officials had expected when they set out to punish the country in February, thanks largely to record-setting revenues it has reaped in the spring and summer from soaring energy prices. In the first 100 days of the war, Russia earned a record 93 billion euros in revenue by exporting oil, gas and coal, according to the Finnish Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
…
“We were expecting that things like SWIFT and all the blocking sanctions on Russia’s banks would totally crater the Russian economy and that basically, by now going into September, we’d be dealing with an economically much more weakened Russia than the one that we are dealing with,” said one senior US official, referring to the US and European decision to cut some Russian banks off from the SWIFT international banking system. <
—
Other issues:
Fakenews and Iran:
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Cancels Public Appearances After Falling Ill – New York Times – Sep 16 2022
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, canceled all meetings and public appearances last week after falling gravely ill and is currently on bed rest under observation by a team of doctors, according to four people familiar with his health situation.
- Iran's supreme leader appears at religious event, following period of absence – Reuters – Sep 17 2022
State television showed Khamenei, 83, standing as he spoke in a steady voice to his audience sitting on the floor about the importance of Arbaeen, a ceremony that marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, Imam Hussein.
Poor countries:
John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch – 17:51 UTC · Sep 16, 2022
NEW: income inequality in US & UK is so wide that while the richest are very well off, the poorest have a worse standard of living than the poorest in countries like Slovenia.
Essentially, US & UK are poor societies with some very rich people.
A thread:
Afghanistan:
- Creating the ‘Idea’ of a Country: The ‘Afghanistan in World Literature’ dossier – Afghanistan Analysts
Covid-19:
- Hundreds of Americans Will Die From COVID Today Is this what normal now looks like? – Atlantic
- How Bill Gates and partners used their clout to control the global Covid response — with little oversight – Politico
Use as open (not Ukraine) thread …
