Tag: perpetual war

Zelensky Says No Elections In Ukraine Until War Is Over

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told BBC last week that there will be no Ukrainian presidential election in 2024 if martial law is still in effect, The New Voice of Ukraine reported.

Zelensky’s five-year term is due to end in 2024, but his comments suggest that it will be extended indefinitely if the war isn’t over by then. He made similar comments about Ukraine’s parliamentary elections, which are due to be held in October of this year, in an interview with The Washington Post last month.

When asked if parliamentary elections will be held this fall, Zelensky said, “If we have martial law, we cannot have elections. The constitution prohibits any elections during martial law. If there is no martial law, then there will be.”

However, in the latest interview he “expressed hope that there would be peace in Ukraine next year, and life would be returning to normal.”

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, also said this month that elections can’t happen in Ukraine under martial law, which Zelensky declared when Russia invaded. “Ukrainian legislation stipulates it is impossible to hold any elections during martial law. And this makes sense,” he said.

Stefanchuk added that if elections happen, it could “lead to the rupture of the state, which our enemy is waiting for. That is why I think the most correct and wise decision is to hold elections immediately after the end of martial law.”

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US to send $500 million in weapons, military aid to Ukraine, officials say

The Pentagon will announce it is sending up to $500 million in military aid to Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armored vehicles and an infusion of missiles for air defense systems, U.S. officials said Monday, as Ukrainian and Western leaders try to sort out the impact of the brief weekend insurrection in Russia.

The aid is aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which has been moving slowly in its early stages. It wasn’t clear Monday if Ukrainian forces will be able to take advantage of the disarray in the Russian ranks, in the aftermath of the short-lived rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner mercenary group that he has controlled.

An announcement on the aid package is expected Tuesday. This would be the 41st time since the Russian invasion into Ukraine in February 2022 that the U.S. has provided military weapons and equipment through presidential drawdown authority. The program allows the Pentagon to quickly take items from its own stocks and deliver them to Ukraine.

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Bombing Mexican Cartels Won’t Stop Fentanyl

Americans continue to overdose on illicit fentanyl despite increased seizures of the drug coming north from Mexico. Several prominent Republicans are suggesting that the U.S. respond with wartime tools such as airstrikes and troop deployments. But combining the war on drugs with the war on terror is a surefire recipe for costly engagement abroad and little progress in reducing fentanyl-related harm at home.

During his presidency, The New York Times reported last year, Donald Trump expressed interest in using missiles to attack Mexican drug cartels and destroy their labs. Reps. Mike Waltz (R–Fla.) and Dan Crenshaw (R–Texas) helped revive that idea in January, when they introduced a joint resolution that would authorize the president to “use all necessary and appropriate force” against “foreign nations, foreign organizations, or foreign persons” involved in fentanyl production or trafficking.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) argues that the military should “go after these organizations wherever they exist.” Several GOP presidential hopefuls, including former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have echoed that sentiment.

There is little reason to believe these strikes would be as precise or effective as proponents claim. “Even a campaign of air strikes against cartels could easily escalate,” says Benjamin H. Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities. “Cartels could retaliate,” he notes, and “strikes are bound to fail to affect fentanyl shipments, let alone meaningfully damage cartels.”

Mexico hawks like Waltz say the U.S. has “done this before,” citing Plan Colombia, a Clinton-era counternarcotics and counterterrorism initiative. But “claiming that Plan Colombia was a success is just plain false,” says Javier Osorio, a professor of political science at the University of Arizona whose research focuses on criminal violence in Latin America.

When the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) “demobilized after the peace agreement in 2016,” Osorio says, coca cultivation “skyrocketed.” He notes that “it’s even higher than before the U.S. started conducting aerial eradications” of coca fields. A similar counternarcotics program in Mexico, the Mérida Initiative, has been “a total disaster,” Osorio says: It has not stopped drug trafficking, and years after the initiative began, Mexico’s top law enforcement official was still “in bed” with the Sinaloa cartel.

The war on drugs has helped turn Latin America into the most violent region in the world, leading to increased black market activity and corruption. “If airstrikes miraculously kill off a cartel, another will fill the gap,” Friedman says, “likely with considerable violence between criminals as the market shifts.” According to Osorio, “There’s always going to be someone willing to kill and die for supplying drugs when there’s such a huge market.”

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The real casualties of Russia’s ‘civil war’: the Beltway expert class

Numerous serious casualties were incurred during Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s supposed “coup.” The Grayzone offers an in-depth look at the massacre carried out by some of America’s top Russia experts against their own credibility.

When Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a supposed revolt against Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 23, sending his forces on a march toward Moscow following a series of tirades against the country’s defense establishment, Washington’s expert class overflowed with an orgy of regime change fantasies. 

For just over 12 hours, everyone from former US ambassador to Russia and noted Hitler apologist Michael McFaul to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to neocon pundit Anne Applebaum exploded with seemingly libidinal excitement about a supposed “civil war” that was certain to feature “Russians…killing Russians,” along with “lots of casualties” and Putin “probably hiding somewhere.”

It was as though the Soviet Union was collapsing all over again, and Prigozhin, a character named on the FBI’s most wanted list whom the US government has sanctioned for leading what it described as a “transnational criminal organization,” was suddenly a white knight storming into Moscow to liberate Russia from “the Putin regime” on the back of a tank. Move over, Juan Guaido.

Expecting a bloodbath and seismic political upheaval, corporate networks like CNN had budgeted wall-to-wall coverage of the coup that wasn’t, filling cable news green rooms with rent-a-generals, K Street think tankers, and war-hungry former diplomatic corps hacks.

On the afternoon of June 24, however, news broke across the US that Prigozhin had struck a deal with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to end his protest and go into exile. Thus ended a largely bloodless affair that ultimately saw fewer documented deaths than the January 6 Capitol Riot.

Though the supposed revolt in Russia burned out faster than a Leopard tank on the way to Zaporizhzhia, we now know that a number of serious casualties were incurred inside the DC Beltway. The Grayzone obtained an exclusive look at the massacre some of America’s top Russia experts carried out against their own credibility.

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‘Thermonator’ Robot Dog Shoots Flames As ‘Skynet Moment’ Nears

Remember those ‘cute’ dancing robo-dogs from (Japanese-owned) Boston Dynamics doing all sorts of tricks, like decorating a Christmas tree and opening doors? 

Even though Boston Dynamics has pledged not to weaponize robo-dogs, other companies have. 

China has made their version of ‘spot’ – except they strapped a gun onto it.

Another Chinese defense contractor showed off a drone deploying an armed robo-dog into a mock warzone. 

…which leaves us with yet another robo-dog that a US company called “Throwflame” has developed into “the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog,” according to its website.

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Wagner’s March on Moscow Halted as Belarus’ Lukashenko Negotiates Stand Down with Prigozhin

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, one of the chief allies of Vladimir Putin, has reportedly brokered a deal with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to stop the paramilitary group’s advances towards Moscow.

Following negotiations that are said to have lasted the entire day, Aleksandr Lukashenko has claimed to have struck an agreement with the Wagner Private Military Company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to stop his forces from marching on Moscow and work to “de-escalate tensions”, according to Belarussian state media BelTA.

The deal — which was reached as Wagner forces reportedly were within striking distance of the Russian capital — was struck as both the Belarussians and the Wagner leader agreed that it was “unacceptable to start a bloodbath in Russia’s territory.”

Lukashenko claimed that the two sides had come to an “absolutely advantageous and acceptable” way to end the situation, which will reportedly include safety guarantees for Wagner forces.

It remains to be seen, however, if any assurances were given personally to Prigozhin, who Russia’s Federal Security Service charged for allegedly orchestrating an “armed rebellion” against Moscow. Should Prigozhin not receive such assurances, the Belarussian-brokered deal may be short-lived.

Earlier in the day, Vladimir Putin called on Prigozhin to turn himself him and “answer” for his “betrayal” of the nation, statements that will likely be hard for the Russian leader to walk back without appearing weak, further complicating matters.

For his part, Prigozhin responded that Putin was “mistaken”, claiming that Wagner was not attempting a coup and that his band of mercenaries are “patriots” merely interested in “justice” for the alleged strikes against their forces in Ukraine by the Russian military top brass after Prigozhin refused to give up leadership of his private army to the Kremlin.

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Wagner Chief Attempts ‘Armed Insurrection’ in Russia: Kremlin

The head of Russia’s Wagner private military firm, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed to have captured a military facility in the Russian city of Rostov, after the mercenary chief accused government forces of attacking his fighters in Ukraine. The Kremlin has denied the allegations, instead labeling the move an “armed insurrection.”

In a video shared on Prigozhin’s personal Telegram channel early on Saturday morning, he declared that his troops had taken Russia’s Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov, insisting there were “no problems” and that the base was “operating normally.”

“All that’s being done is we are taking control to ensure assault aviation does not conduct strikes on us, and instead on Ukrainians,” he said. “Military objects in Rostov are under control, including the airfield. Planes that leave for battle [in Ukraine] are leaving nominally.”

On Friday, Prigozhin claimed a Russian “missile attack” on a Wagner camp had left “many victims,” sharing footage purporting to depict the aftermath of the strike. While the video appears to show the body of one dead soldier and multiple small fires in a wooded area, it includes little direct evidence of an attack.

In another post, the Wagner head stated: “There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country,” suggesting he would advance on Rostov, a major city in Russia’s southwest. He argued his actions did not amount to a “military coup,” instead describing the move as a “march for justice.”

Prigozhin has led an increasingly public war of words with the Russian government and military, repeatedly accusing officials of declining to supply the ammunition and gear needed to capture the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut (known as Artyomovsk in Russia). The town finally fell in May, after months of brutal fighting.

Russian authorities have rejected Prigozhin’s charges outright, with the Defense Ministry stating they “do not correspond with reality” while deeming his claims an “informational provocation.” On Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s prosecutor general, Igor Krasnov, had launched criminal proceedings against Prigozhin for an “attempt to organize an armed insurrection.”

In a televised address, President Vladimir Putin later accused Prigozhin of a “betrayal of his country and people,” vowing to “react harshly” to the uprising.

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‘Dangerous Moment’: Zelensky Issues Nuclear Plant False Flag Warning As Counteroffensive Fails

Not for the first time thus far in the conflict, accusations of false flag events involving radioactive material are flying, after Ukraine’s President Zelensky accused Russia of plotting a “terrorist attack” on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is to result in an intentional radiation leak, according to a Thursday video statement.

“Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – a terrorist act with radiation leakage,” he claimed. “Radiation has no state borders. Whomever it will hit is deterred only by the direction of the wind,” Zelensky added.

The Ukrainian leader further claimed to have evidence to back his assertions about the plot, but the Kremlin has blasted all of this as “another lie”. Russia has also stressed that an international team of UN-backed nuclear experts have been on-site observing safety protocol and proper operations.

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Zelensky Signs Bill Banning Russian Books

In the country’s latest blow to free speech, freedom of expression, and ethnic diversity, President Vladimir Zelensky announced Thursday he’s signed into effect a new law banning Russian books and publications in Ukraine. 

The law blocks any new Russian and Belarusian publications from being imported into the country. “I believe this law is the right decision,” Zelensky wrote of the measure.

But Ukraine has at the same time urged European authorities to fast-track the country into the EU, which could now be further complicated with this latest move.

Ukrainian national media itself has noted this will be a significant hindrance to future EU membership.

As The New Voice of Ukraine (republished by Yahoo) points out, “However, the new law has faced criticism and was vetoed by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for potentially violating certain provisions of the Ukrainian Constitution, and for not aligning with EU law.”

The publication added, “Nevertheless, a petition supporting the initiative gathered enough signatures to proceed.”

Russia’s RT has also picked up on the story, which is sure to drive further outrage among the Russian population, and in the Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southern Ukraine: 

The move comes after Ukrainian citizens registered an online petition on the official presidential website asking for the ban back in May. The petition reached the 25,000-vote threshold required for it to be formally considered by the head of state. 

The author of the petition noted that the Ukrainian parliament had already approved the law on June 19, 2022, but that Zelensky had never signed the bill. As a result, Russian books continued to be sold in Ukraine, which undermines “the information security of the state and the economic foundations of Ukrainian book publishing,” according to the petition.  

A key driving factor which unleashed civil war in the Donbas since 2014 in the first place was Kiev’s ongoing crackdown against Russian language and culture, impacting many millions of Ukrainians. 

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Russia Has Deployed Military Combat Dolphins to Crimea, Says UK Intelligence Digest

A bizarre Cold War throwback emerges as new intelligence claims Russia has deployed an “increased number” of military dolphins to its naval base in Crimea meant to attack human saboteurs.

Russia has been reinforcing its Black Sea naval base, says the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD), since the country launched another invasion of Ukrainian territory in 2022. While many of the defences deployed are conventional including nets and booms to catch torpedos, submarines, and surface ships, others are somewhat less so, including the deployment of military dolphins.

Satellite photos reveal, the MOD says, “a near doubling of floating mammal pens in the harbour” in recent weeks. These pens, they say are likely to be the home to bottle-nosed dolphins trained to “counter enemy divers”, in other words, to attack unauthorised visitors.

Discussing Russia’s earlier use of dolphins to protect its naval base in the Black Sea from enemy divers, King’s College London academic Professor Andy Lambert said last year: “Dolphins would be ideal for killing human divers … fast, clever, and powerful”. The report also notes that, unlike a warship, dolphins are not magnetic and don’t risk setting off proximity mines.

Russia has stationed its Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula for nearly 250 years, even after Crimea became a Ukrainian, post-Soviet territory at the end of the Cold War. Indeed, the return to prominence of military mammals in the Black Sea now has a Cold War flavour to it, as forces on both sides of the Iron Curtain attempted to train whales, dolphins, and seals to perform military tasks.

The MOD notes the Russian navy still uses beluga whales and seals in arctic waters to this day, and a suspected Russian-trained “spy whale” with a camera harness has been turning up in northern European ports in recent months. A 2016 report noting that Russia was seeking to buy five dolphins to reinvigorate its dolphin training programme also published the remarks of an ex-Soviet Colonel who witnessed the training of the animals by Russia during the Cold War.

Colonel Viktor Baranets said dolphins were trained to plant explosives on ships.

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