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Ukraine – War Propaganda And News Items
Today Russia's missile and drone onslaught on Ukrainian infrastructure continues. I yesterday posted 25 headlines which over the last 7 month predicted that Russia would soon 'run out of missiles'.
For laughs: The 'coping' mechanism after yesterday's 200+ missile and drones is the very same I had debunked:
Dmitri Alperovitch @DAlperovitch – 14:48 UTC · Oct 10, 2022
As horrible as today was for Ukraine today, the sliver of good news here is that Russia likely can’t sustain this rate of missile launches. It’s very telling that they have not had this rate of long range fires since the start of the war.
The NY Times is lying:
With Civilian Attacks, Putin Gives Hard-Liners What They Wanted
'Civilian attacks' when, as the NYT itself reports, only 14 persons were killed and less than 100 wounded yesterday during 200+ missile and drone strikes:
The attacks killed at least 14 and wounded scores of others, while countless more in cities across Ukraine were terrified by dozens of incoming missiles explicitly targeting civilian infrastructure.
How many of those were killed by Ukrainian air defense misses is not known. It is sad that people get killed in a war but sometimes unavoidable.
The Ukraine military has killed way more civilians by its artillery strikes on Donetsk city. In 2003 U.S. 'shock and awe' in Baghdad killed at least 10,000 people. Israel kills hundreds of civilians during each of its frequent onslaughts on Gaza. Russia is obviously avoiding to kill civilians but still gets accused of doing it.
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Who is really killing Ukrainian civilians?
Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal – 6:23 UTC · Oct 10, 2022
"We haven't any time to put them in jail. They disappeared… somewhere"
A local official jokes of massacring pro-Russian citizens of Ukraine in towns vacated by Russian forces
The human rights industry is basically forbidden from acknowledging this
Quoted Tweet
Анатолий Шарий @anatoliisharii – 18:50 UTC · Oct 9, 2022
A district deputy from Ukraine brags to a Zelensky-affiliated channel “journalist” how they killed many Ukrainians they considered to be “enemy agents.” "These people gone missing". It’s fun for them. Embedded video
Ukrainian is false flagging its murdering of civilian 'collaborators':
War Crimes – Dreizin Report
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Russia had so far also avoided to hit significant Ukrainian infrastructure. Yesterday its President Vladimir Putin explained why it had to change that. The Dugina murder, sabotage attacks within Russia, NATO destroying Nord Stream 2, and the Kerch bridge attack changed the picture:
The President held a briefing session with permanent members of the Security Council, via videoconference. – Kremlin
…
Thus, the Kiev regime, by its actions, has actually put itself on the same level as international terrorist groups, and with the most odious of those. It is simply no longer possible to leave crimes of this kind without retaliation.
This morning, at the proposal of the Defence Ministry and in accordance with the plan of Russia’s General Staff, a massive strike was launched with long-range precision air, sea and land-based weapons against Ukrainian energy, military and communications facilities.
In the event of more attempts to stage terrorist attacks on our territory, Russia's response will be harsh and commensurate with the threats posed to the Russian Federation. Nobody should have any doubts about that.
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Kit has a nice scoop:
Kit Klarenberg @KitKlarenberg – 18:25 UTC · 10 Oct 2022
Now, this is pretty big. Advise you read in full. In brief though, "audacious" plans for destroying #KerchBridge drawn up at request of infamous British military spook Chris Donnelly, at precisely the time London was sabotaging peace talks between Russia and Ukraine this April.
EXPOSED: Before Ukraine blew up Kerch Bridge, British spies plotted it – Grayzone
MoA has previously exposed Donnelly and his Institute for Statecraft:
The 'Integrity Initiative' – A Military Intelligence Operation, Disguised As Charity, To Create The "Russian Threat"
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Realism setting in:
Don't Buy the Narrative on Ukraine – American Conservative
The Western party line about a struggling Russia and a resilient Ukraine overlooks hard realities.
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Whitney is citing the OSCE reports without crediting MoA which covered them before the start of the war:
Some of Us Don't Think the Russian Invasion Was "Aggression." Here's Why. – M. Whitney / UNZ
From SLavyangrad telegram channel…
The FSB described the mechanics of how the explosives were delivered to the Crimean bridge
As the investigation established, the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls with a construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22,770 kg and in early August “sent from the seaport of Odessa to the Bulgarian city of Ruse under contract No. 02/08/2022 between Translogistik LLC UA” (Kyiv) and “Baltex Capital S.A.”
(Ruse)”.
“Citizens of Ukraine Tsyurkalo Mikhail Vladimirovich, born in 1975, Kovach Denis Olegovich, born in 1979, Solomko Roman Ivanovich, 1971 .b., citizens of Georgia Inosaridze Sandro, a broker named “Levan” and a citizen of Armenia Terchanyan Artur, born in 1985.
From September 29 to October 3, 2022 in Yerevan, at the Transalliance terminal, the cargo was cleared according to the rules of the EurAsEC and the documents were replaced, after which it was already sent by GU AR GROUP LLC (Republic of Armenia, Alaverdi) , and the recipient LLC “Leader” (Moscow)”, – reported in the special service.
Later, the FSB noted, on October 4, on a DAF truck registered in Georgia, the cargo crossed the Russian-Georgian border at the Upper Lars checkpoint and on October 6 it was delivered and unloaded at the Armavir wholesale base in the Krasnodar Territory.
“On October 7 of this year, with the assistance of R. Solomko, a citizen of Ukraine Zlob Vladimir Vasilyevich, born in 1987, and five more established citizens of Russia, the documents for the cargo were again changed, the sender was indicated LLC “TEK-34″ (Ulyanovsk) , and the recipient is a non-existent company in the Republic of Crimea,” the FSB reports.
The special service stated that on the same day the pallets were loaded into the truck of Russian citizen Yusubov Makhir, born in 1971, “who left for Simferopol, and on October 8, 2022 at 06:03, while following the Crimean bridge, he was blown up.”
“At the same time, control over the movement of cargo along the entire route and contacts with participants in the criminal transportation scheme was carried out by an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, who introduced himself as “Ivan Ivanovich”, who used for coordination both a virtual anonymous number purchased on the Internet and registered for a citizen of Ukraine, a resident of the city of Minsk. Kremenchug Andreychenko Sergei Vladimirovich, born in 1988,” the FSB believes.
“>https://t.me/readovkanews/43991
Looks like the FSB is dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s.
INDY
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Oct 12 2022 9:50 utc | 412
KARL…CAN YOU PLS SAVE TO YOUR VK, IN CASE b deletes as this is very long…but it offers insight into the pipeline wars and the killing fields of Ukrainian …
A follow on from my post earlier in thread. Since 2015 I have been aware of the East Mediterranean gas field, claimed by Israel and Lebanon..the “pipe dream” was to develop this field and supply gas to Europe.
Problems / roadblocks started with the high cost of developing the field, which was not viable given the cheap Russian gas already in the European market.
Solution? Remove Russian gas. Increase cost of gas to Europe.
= profit.
When I first read this fantastical vision I thought “that’ll never happen”. Every few years I’d see another item as the plan progressed.
And. Here we are. Russian gas is out of Europe. Higher (much higher) Gas prices make Israeli East Med field a very viable enterprise..
This is a recent item, not the quite detailed one I read in 2015. (At the time of Russia going into Syria)…
East Mediterranean put on the World Map for Supply of Gas
The Ukrainian-Russian crises created an unexpected opportunity to the East Mediterranean to supply Europe with gas and LNG.
The high gas prices in Europe, makes the gas of the East Med very competitive and is seen as a potential key supply source for Europe as it looks to replace Russian gas. European gas prices are presently higher than anywhere else globally and are still trading at a premium to Asian spot gas prices.
Among the potential players is the US Oil Giant Chevron which has a large gas position in the East Mediterranean following its acquisition of Noble Energy fields in Israel and Cyprus in 2020.
It operates the producing Leviathan and Tamar fields in Israel and is also operator of the license containing the Aphrodite discovery offshore Cyprus. Gas from Leviathan and Tamar is currently used to supply both the domestic Israeli market and export markets in Egypt and Jordan.
Chevron is was looking at several options for monetizing those gas resources in the form of LNG.
The European Commission in June signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel and Egypt on the potential for Israeli gas to be piped to Egypt and then liquefied for supply to Europe.
Another option for Chevron is a floating LNG liquefaction, which could be a good option as well.
Interest in East Mediterranean gas has spiked since the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an option for supply diversification and a way to help bring down prices.
But with LNG the response time is long as it takes time for new projects to reach final investment decision and then be developed.
Other oil majors are giving the East Med gas a priority in their future strategies, which will help boost swiftly the further development of the gas fields in Egypt, Cyprus, Israel and Lebanon.
The proximity of these fields to Europe to satisfy a huge demand to the old continent is very helpful.
Already oil companies are discussing seriously all options for shipping the gas to Europe including FLNG.
Thus, the chief of the Italian Oil Major ENI announced that Italian his company will fully replace Russian gas by 2025 by using additional resources from the eastern Mediterranean, Reuters reported during a Gastech 2022 conference in Milan this week.
The Rome-based multinational oil and gas company, with interests in waters off Cyprus as well, had said in an April statement it would pump up the extra gas by this fall, adding up to 9 bcf of Algerian gas by 2023-24.
Cypriot Energy Minister Natasa Pilides, who also attended the conference, has been making the case for the Republic of Cyprus, saying the island’s offshore gas and latest discoveries could strengthen both Europe’s energy security and energy transition.
Pilides, who also sat on a ministerial panel titled “Unlocking and accelerating the natural gas potential of the Eastern Mediterranean basin,” has said that new gas discovered in the Cronos-1 well, in Block 6 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone, EEZ, could contribute to the revival of interest in the eastern Mediterranean energy corridor envisioned by the countries of the region.
The Cypriot minister mentioned during Gastech 2022 that floating liquefied natural gas “is one option, or the gas could go to Egypt.”
The Cypriot minister told delegates at the event that Nicosia had “very positive messages” from Eni as well as the Italian company’s French partner Total.
ENI, which operates the huge Zohr gas field in Egypt’s EEZ, reportedly has been looking to optimize its exploration campaigns in existing blocks as well as newly acquired acreage in the Nile Delta, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Desert regions.
Egypt has persistently emerged as the most likely hub best positioned to provide short-term exports to Europe, with Nicosia seeking to benefit from Cairo’s facilities and infrastructure that could receive Cypriot gas.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla held talks with Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry Natasa Pilides on the sidelines of his participation at the Gastech Exhibition and Conference 2022 in Milan, Italy.
During the meeting, the two ministers discussed joint cooperation projects and the conditions of the oil and gas market in light of the challenges that they face.
The two ministers highlighted the importance of continuing coordination and constructive cooperation between both sides in light of the increasing importance of natural gas, especially during the energy transition.
They also discussed what task forces on both sides have accomplished to support the bonds of cooperation under the umbrella of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF).
During his speech, El Molla noted that the east Mediterranean region became a trusted source of natural gas to the European markets.
He added that the trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was signed between Egypt, Israel, and the European Union for trading and transporting natural gas is one of the most successful activities for the forum.
The important news from these latest developments is that the companies are moving seriously to make things happen and this is always much more efficient than the governments, which role should be offering the needed support to facilitate a swift implementation of the planned projects.
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And this from a Nat South item I read at The Saker a few years back:
“Wider context
A proposed 1,900-kilometer long gas pipeline, ‘EastMed’ is being studied and gaining approvals.
This pipeline would go from Israeli natural gas fields to Cyprus, then onwards to Crete, Greece and to southern Italy.
It is a significant project, giving Israel the ability to export natural gas, mostly from the Leviathan field found in 2010, which is estimated to hold 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The U.S. is supportive of this project since it would help to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas”
https://natsouth.livejournal.com/15393.html
For those interested…. “East Mediterranean gas” into search engine of choice…. See if you can find a quite detailed article from around 2015, explaining the “pipeline wars”, and the competing interests in getting pipelines across Syria (back then) or the South Stream (which the US successfully killed when but a zygote).
Remember. Trump’s the foreign policy advisory panel member, George Papadopoulos was originally fed to Trump because he had East Med gas and energy consultancy on his resume.
From 2011 to 2015, he worked as a research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. His research predominantly focused on the geopolitics and energy security changes of both the Caspian and Eastern Mediterranean and their impact on U.S. strategy.
George designed the first ever project in Washington, D.C. think tank history on U.S., Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and Israel relations at a symposium: “Power Shifts in the Eastern Mediterranean: The Emerging Strategic Relationship of Israel, Greece, and Cyprus.”
The event was widely covered and has provided U.S. policymakers with an alternative approach to responding to the simultaneous political, security and energy changes in the region.
George has consulted for energy companies operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and Caspian and has written reports on both Israel’s and Cyprus’ upstream natural gas market structure that have been briefed to regulatory authorities.
George’s work on the topics has been published and cited in the Washington Times, Jamestown Foundation, Hudson Institute, Jerusalem Post, Natural Gas Europe, Haaretz, Hurriyet, Arutz Sheva and Phileleftheros.
He has been awarded by the U.S. State Department as a finalist to represent the United States at UNESCO in 2011.
And then. One evening, he had drinkies with Alexander Downer in a salubrious London wine bar…..
Posted by: Melaleuca | Oct 12 2022 15:09 utc | 493
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