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U.S. Government Media Debunks Ukrainian Propaganda Claim
This is curious.
Ukraine's General Staff confirms destruction of Russian arsenal containing Iranian missiles in Volgograd Oblast – Pravda.ua
Ukraine’s defence forces hit a Russian depot used to store and upgrade missile and artillery weaponry near the village of Kotluban in Russia’s Volgograd Oblast on the night of 28-29 September.
Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook
Quote: "According to the available information, a train carrying Iranian missiles had arrived at the arsenal the day before the strike. The military facility was heavily protected by electronic warfare and air defence systems, but our units successfully accomplished the combat objective. A fire is raging and ammunition is exploding on the arsenal's premises."
Details: The operation was reportedly carried out by the Unmanned Systems Forces in cooperation with units of the Special Operations Forces, Defence Intelligence, and the Security Service of Ukraine.
The General Staff said the defence forces continue to weaken Russia’s military capabilities.
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(((Tendar))) @Tendar – 8:11 UTC · Sep 29, 2024
Overnight, special forces of the Ukrainian army struck the Russian ammunition depot of Kotluban, Volgograd region. Iranian ballistic missile parts and launchers were stored at the site, according to Andriy Kovalenko.
Pictures from locals and the NASA FIRMS map confirm that a fire is ongoing at this site.
Like all GRAU Arsenal site, Kotluban' is located along main rail line. You will see increasingly those rail lines (yellow) marked on my maps.
4 Images
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A few hours later:
Cont. reading: U.S. Government Media Debunks Ukrainian Propaganda Claim
Palestine Open Thread 2024-233
News & views related to the war in Palestine …
Ukraine Open Thread 2024-232
News & views related to the war in Ukraine …
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-231
Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
Palestine:
Ukraine:
Empire:
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Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-231
Bombing A Way To Peace?
During the last night the Zionist entity bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, using more than 85 tons of U.S. supplied ammunition.
Several large apartment blocks were destroyed.
The Zionist army claims to have given warning to the inhabitants to evacuate. But the 'warning' in form of an 'order to evacuate' came only through its army radio, at 11 pm local time and minutes before the bombers arrived.
There will be hundreds of innocent deaths from this night's campaign alone.
It is now claimed that Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the General Secretary of the Hizbullah movement, has died in the attack.
There is however no confirmation for this.
In 2006 Israel had also claimed to have killed Sayed Nasrallah after attacking Hizbullah's main office and building. Three days later Nasrallah appeared on live-TV to announce an open war against the enemy.
It has been clear that the Zionist plan is to decapitate Hizbullah:
Cont. reading: Bombing A Way To Peace?
Zelenski’s U.S. Trip Ends In Failure
The (former) Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelinski has failed. During his current travel in the U.S. his 'victory plan', a wishlist designed to drag the U.S. and NATO deeper into the war, did not gain support.
Even his most urgent request, to allow Ukraine to use supplied long range missiles for long-range strikes within Russia, has been rejected.
To justify its decision the Biden administration even 'leaked' an intelligence assessment which warned of allowing such:
Intelligence agencies concluded that granting Ukraine’s request to use Western missiles against targets deep in Russia could prompt forceful retaliation while not fundamentally changing the course of the war.
A promise of another US$8 billion gift in military supplies was offered as a consolation gift. But the package does not include what the Ukrainian military needs or wants:
Cont. reading: Zelenski’s U.S. Trip Ends In Failure
Palestine Open Thread 2024-230
News & views related to the war in Palestine …
Ukraine Open Thread 2024-229
News & views related to the war in Ukraine …
According to the Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (14 September – 20 September 2024) the Ukrainian military lost a total of 24 tanks and 125 other Armored Fighting Vehicles during that week.
Of these only 6 tanks and 18 AFV were lost along the 1,000+ kilometer frontline within Ukraine. A total of 18 tanks and 117 AFV were lost due to the Ukrainian incursion of the Russian Kursk oblast.
This emphasizes the fact that the Ukrainian forces has used most of its material resources into the morale lifting public-relation campaign in Kursk without achieving much else, if anything, of value. There is little chance that any of the losses incurred during that short campaign will ever get a replacement.
The incursion will thus become a historic lecture of how not to employ ones scarce resources for short term political reasons.
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-228
News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …
How Political Corruption Allows Antony Blinken To Break The Law
ProPublica headlines:
Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them.
The selected formulation is unfortunately not covering the real issue at hand.
U.S. law prohibits military aid to countries which are hindering U.S. humanitarian aid.
Two government entities subordinated to the State Department concluded, in writing, that Israel was blocking their humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, reported to Congress the opposite conclusion because he intended to deliver more military aid to Gaza.
By misleading Congress on humanitarian aid to Gaza Blinken deliberated broke the law.
That should have been the headline:
The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza.
The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
But Blinken and the administration of President Joe Biden did not accept either finding. Days later, on May 10, Blinken delivered a carefully worded statement to Congress that said, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”
This case should be sufficient for Congress to open an inquiry and to demand under oath witness statements from Blinken and others involved in the affair. It could be a great instrument during the current election campaign to damage the position of Democratic candidates.
However that is unlikely to happen.
Unfortunately Blinken lied to Congress about Israeli war crimes because he knew that he would get away with it.
The uni-state, the foreign policy conglomerate which resides in both parties and the bureaucracy, will not allow that U.S. war-crimes or those of its associated forces will ever be prosecuted. The Bush administration did get away with lying about weapons of mass destruction. The CIA and the Pentagon got away with torturing hundreds of innocent people.
Would the Republicans prosecuted Blinken as they should they would have to break with their own support and commitment to Zionist supremacy. With their own candidate's campaign depending on donations from Zionist billionaires there is no chance that the Republicans will break away from their previous policies.
The will of the people, as enacted in laws, gets ignored in favor of monies that allow established politicians to continue their games.
The War About Palestine Has Reached Its Next Stage
Last week Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahoo decided to escalate the tit for tat missile exchange with Hizbullah in Lebanon into a full fledged war.
There were several reasons for him to do so:
- 60,000 settlers from north Israel have left their homes and will only return if the government can provide for their safety.
- The radicals in his government want to eliminate Hizbullah and threaten to end the government should it not do so. (The realists know that this is an impossible aim.)
- There may be some delusion that Hizbullah will falter under pressure and agree to a ceasefire that does not include Gaza.
- There is a chance for Israel to drag the U.S. into a fight that would end up with a war on Iran. Netanyahoo has for decades tried to arrange for this.
Last week Israel launched a terror attack on Hizbullah operatives who were using pagers to receive alarms and orders. These people were part of the civil administration side of Hizbullah and not its armed fighters.
The following attack on a leading Hizbullah commander who was meeting with Hizbullah special force officers was more serious. But it will not damage Hizbullah's operation. Every higher officer does have a designated successor who will immediately step in. Continuity of command within Hizbullah is guaranteed under almost any circumstances.
Both of those Israel attacks required a response from Hizbullah. The 'strategic patience' it had previously adhered to had reached its limits.
Its response to the Israel strikes are be part of a larger war that has now started.
Cont. reading: The War About Palestine Has Reached Its Next Stage
Palestine Open Thread 2024-227
News & views related to the war in Palestine …
Ukraine Open Thread 2024-226
News & views related to the war in Ukraine …
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-225
Ukraine – Zelinski’s ‘Victory Plan’ Charade
On August 27 the former president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenski announced that he would soon present a plan for ending the war with Russia:
kraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that the war with Russia would eventually end in dialogue, but that Kyiv had to be in a strong position and that he would present a plan to U.S. President Joe Biden and his two potential successors.
The Ukrainian leader, addressing a news conference, said Kyiv's three-week-old incursion into Russia's Kursk region was part of that plan, but that it also comprised other steps on the economic and diplomatic fronts.
"The main point of this plan is to force Russia to end the war. And I want that very much – (that it would be) fair for Ukraine," he told reporters in Kyiv of the war launched by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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Zelenskiy said he hoped to go to the United States in September to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York and that he was preparing to meet Biden.
The plan will also be presented to the presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
It is believed that this announcement came in response to a silent request by Ukraine's supporters for a longer term perspective.
Details of the plan have since leaked bit by bit:
Cont. reading: Ukraine – Zelinski’s ‘Victory Plan’ Charade
Ukraine – Recent Front Line Reports Point To Systemic Failures
Two recent piece published in Ukrainian media take a look at the situation in eastern Ukraine and describe the reasons for the crumbling of Ukraine's defense lines.
The usually government friendly Ukrainska Pravda talked with units at the front line:
The Pokrovsk front didn’t just crumble overnight. Since 15 February 2024, when they withdrew from Avdiivka, Ukraine’s defence forces have been retreating towards Pokrovsk – sometimes faster, sometimes slower – almost every week.
The first difficulties arose when the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which had been holding the line in the vicinity of Orlivka and Semenivka (not far from Avdiivka), was replaced by the 68th Separate Jaeger Brigade. The rotation of military units is one of the most vulnerable defence areas in general, and for the Ukrainian army in particular, and the Russians took advantage of that.
Rotations are a complicate business. The unit that gets relieved is supposed to wait until the replacement unit has completely arrived. Only after explaining the positions and situation to the new troops are the old ones supposed to retreat.
In reality that rarely happens as it is described in military manuals. The troops eager to get out do not take time to brief the incoming forces. Positions are emptied before the replacements have had time to settle in. Traffic snarls ensue as the number of vehicles in an area double before returning to a normal level.
The enemy will of course use any such situation to make it more difficult for the rotating side. Botched rotations have caused several occasion where the lines were open and allowed Russian units to break in. They may be the main cause for the Russian break through from Avdiivka towards the key supply point in Pokrovsk.
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From those in the known:
Cont. reading: Ukraine – Recent Front Line Reports Point To Systemic Failures
Palestine Open Thread 2024-224
News & views related to the war in Palestine …
Ukraine Open Thread 2024-223
News & views related to the war in Ukraine …
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-222
News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …
Israel’s Pager Attack – A Sophisticated One-Times Shot With Little Effect
Yesterday's terrorist attack by Israel against Hizbullah in Lebanon was quite sophisticated.
Back in February Hizbullah had urged its affiliates to avoid smart-phones, which can be controlled by foreign intelligence services, and to instead use pagers to receive text messages and alarms when necessary.
Israel must have recognized that suggestion as a chance to infiltrate the supply chain for these communication tools.
It somehow managed to manipulate pager shipments to Lebanon some of which would be acquired by Hizbullah and its affiliates. Yesterday specific encoded messages were sent to the manipulated pagers. Some moments later they started to blow up. Eleven people were killed and some 4,000 were wounded.
Not all people killed or wounded were members of Hizbullah. Pagers are also used by emergency and volunteer services. Western media avoid to call this attack a terrorist operation. But just ask yourself how they would describe the attack if this had happened to the other side of the conflict.
Pagers are not an exclusive means of Hizbullah. The attack was indiscriminate. The explosions happened in many situations of daily life – during visits in shops (vid), in driving cars in the middle of traffic, near to bystanders including children.
The pagers were sold under the brand name of Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company specialized in such devices. But, according to the company, the devices sold in Lebanon were manufactured under license by the Hungarian company BAC Consulting KFT.
Cont. reading: Israel’s Pager Attack – A Sophisticated One-Times Shot With Little Effect
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