Tag: russia

NATO Aspirant Sweden Signs Deal To Let US Military Use All Its Bases

Sweden is not even in NATO yet—amid the continuing holdup and objections from Turkey and Hungary—but that didn’t stop the US and Sweden this week from brokering a deal to let American troops have wide use of Swedish military bases for the first time.

The newly inked Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) this week signals Stockholm finally and fully abandoning its its centuries-old policy of neutrality, given the Pentagon has confirmed that US forces can now “operate in Sweden, including the legal status of US military personnel, access to deployment areas (and) prepositioning of military materiel.”

Defense Lloyd Austin and Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson held a signing ceremony on Tuesday, and hailed that the deal will “create better conditions for Sweden to be able to receive support from the United States in the event of a war or crisis.”

At a moment Sweden is still waiting anxiously for its accession into NATO to be announced, the US State Department has said the DCA with Sweden will “apply seamlessly before and after Sweden’s accession to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).”

All of this is a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, which led both Finland (who is NATO’s newest member) and neighboring Sweden to drop their non-alignment policies. As the AP reviews:

Sweden’s strategically important Baltic Sea island of Gotland sits a little more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

The United States struck a similar deal with Sweden’s western neighbor, NATO member Norway, in 2021 and is currently negotiating such an agreement with NATO members Finland and Denmark, two other Nordic countries.

From the start of the war in Ukraine, the Swedish prime minister’s office has cited Russian aggression as making necessary a greater and broader readiness posture in case of a state of emergency, or even potential attack on the nation.

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World’s oldest fortress discovered in Siberia: Defensive complex built 8,000 years ago could reshape understanding of early human societies

Archaeologists made a groundbreaking discovery in a remote area of Siberia, unearthing an approximately 8,000-year-old fortress built by hunters and gatherers.

The Amnya I and II fortress is believed to be the world’s oldest fortified settlement and could cause historians to reassess how complex societies evolved.

The Amnya fortress is located on a sandy area alongside the Amnya River, suggesting the hunter-gatherers chose the site to control abundant fishing spots.

Archaeologists found evidence that the site was burned to the ground several times from stratigraphy, or the collection of sediment, soil, and debris – and they discovered arrowheads in the outer ditch, indicating violent conflict in the region.

The team discovered wooden palisades indicating a fortified inner area when excavating the site from 1987 to 2000. 

“These things we think about now, like property ownership and social inequality—people have been thinking about since we became human,” Colin Grier of Washington State University told Science.org.

The remains of 10 pit depressions are located within the wall, making up Amnya I. 

Another 10 huts were found outside the fortified structure, suggesting a hierarchical structure of an inner fortified area and an outer, unprotected section identified as Amnya II.

Construction features like central elevated fireplaces indicated the structures were long-term dwellings, contradicting the belief that permanent settlements and defensive structures only emerged in farming societies.

In their study, the authors at Freie Universität Berlin state that the Amnya fort was built ‘many centuries before comparable enclosures first appeared in Europe,’ adding that although ancient hunter-gatherer groups constructed defenses throughout the world, ‘the very early onset of this phenomenon in inland western Siberia is unparalleled.’

Researchers and archaeologists previously operated under the assumption that competition and conflict didn’t exist in hunter-gatherer societies.

However,  using radiocarbon dating on collected samples, archaeologists could confirm ‘the prehistoric age of the site’ and establish it ‘as the world’s oldest-known fort.’

Radiocarbon dating is a technique that looks at the decay of carbon-14 isotope found in samples, which can accurately identify the age of materials dating as old as 60,000 years.

‘Through detailed archaeological examinations at Amnya, we collected samples for radiocarbon dating, confirming the prehistoric age of the site and establishing it as the world’s oldest-known fort. Our new palaeobotanical and stratigraphical examinations reveal that inhabitants of Western Siberia led a sophisticated lifestyle based on the abundant resources of the taiga environment,’ a Freie Universität Berlin press release said.

‘This finding reshapes our understanding of early human societies, challenging the idea that only with the advent of agriculture would people have started to build permanent settlements with monumental architecture and have developed complex social structures,’ it added.

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Biden: If Ukraine Aid Is Not Passed, U.S. Troops Will Be Deployed to Fight Russia

President Joe Biden echoed the warnings of his defense secretary in an address to the public this week, saying if Congress does not pass $64 billion in aid to Ukraine, U.S. troops will end up fighting Russia in Europe.

“This cannot wait. Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess. It’s as simple as that,” Biden began.

He then accused skeptical Republicans in Congress of being “willing to give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for and abandon our global leadership not just to Ukraine, but beyond that.”

He argued that Putin has committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and that Russian forces are committing war crimes.

“It’s as simple as that. It’s stunning. Who is prepared to walk away from holding Putin accountable for this behavior? Who among us is really prepared to do that?”

He then argued that if Putin succeeds in taking Ukraine, “he’s going to keep going.”

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Ukrainian traitor MP is assassinated in Moscow by Kyiv hit squad who shot him in the head 18 months after he urged Putin to use weapons of mass destruction

Kyiv said it orchestrated the assassination of a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician today, after the body of an ex-lawmaker who had defected to Russia was found outside Moscow with a gunshot to the head.

A source in Ukraine’s defence sector told AFP that its SBU security services had orchestrated the assassination of Illia Kyva, a former Ukrainian lawmaker who was kicked out of parliament and defected to Russia weeks after Moscow launched its military offensive last year.

Kyva’s body had been discovered today in the Moscow suburbs, Russian news agencies reported. 

His death came 18 months after he urged Putin to use weapons of mass destruction. 

Speaking on national TV, Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said: ‘We can confirm that Kyva is done. Such a fate will befall other traitors of Ukraine, as well as the henchmen of the Putin regime.’

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NATO Chief: West Should Brace For More ‘Bad News’ From Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a fresh interview warned the Western alliance to brace for more “bad news” from Ukraine, according to Saturday remarks given to Germany’s national ARD television.

He was asked whether he thinks the situation will worsen for Ukrainian forces in the future, after the counteroffensive has been widely acknowledged as a failure. “We should also be prepared for bad news,” he responded. “Wars develop in phases. But we have to support Ukraine in both good and bad times.”

He said that in response to the current “critical situation” the West must boost ammunition production. “I will leave it to the Ukrainians and military commanders to make these difficult operational decisions,” Stoltenberg explained.

“One of the issues we should address is the fragmentation of the European defense industry,” he said. Countries have gone from being enthusiastic supporters and donors of Ukraine’s cause to more lately sounding the alarm over dwindling or tapped defense stockpiles, as ammo production also can’t keep up. 

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Ukrainian Official Confirms Russia Was Ready to End War in March 2022 If Kyiv Agreed to Neutrality

David Arakhamia, a high-ranking member of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People political party, said that Kyiv could have ended the war with Russia after a month if it agreed not to join NATO. The official said that Moscow was not concerned about other issues, such as “denazification,” but only wanted Kyiv to agree to neutrality.

In an interview with TV channel 1+1, a Ukrainian network, Arakhamia confirmed previous reporting that Moscow and Kyiv had nearly agreed to end the war in March 2022. Still, Ukraine’s Western backers pushed it to try to win the war against Russia. “They really hoped almost to the last moment that they would force us to sign such an agreement so that we would take neutrality,” Arakhamia  said.” It was the most important thing for them. They were prepared to end the war if we agreed to – as Finland once did – neutrality, and committed that we would not join NATO.”

Arakhamia, who led the Ukrainian negotiation team, said that other issues, such as the protection of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and the “denazification” of the government in Kyiv, were less important to Moscow. “In fact, [neutrality] was the key point.” He continued, “Everything else was simply rhetoric and political ‘seasoning’ about denazification, the Russian-speaking population and blah-blah-blah.”

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MSM Admits “Magical Thinking” Guided Its Reporting On Ukraine… Many Thousands Of Deaths Later

A very short while ago, any US politician or media pundit publicly calling for peace negotiations in Ukraine with Russia’s Putin was branded ‘pro-Kremlin’ and somehow compromised. For example, mainstream media has sought to isolate and cancel thinkers like John Mearsheimer for his realism toward Moscow and the conflict, and urging immediate ceasefire which would require territorial concessions from Kiev. It was only in September that one prominent publication branded him “the world’s most hated thinker.”

But now, at a moment Ukraine’s leadership itself has become more desperate while admitting its forces are facing almost insurmountable odds, the D.C. beltway consensus has clearly and drastically changed, and now it’s apparently okay to admit the following…

The WSJ piece actually calls for a longer-term strategy of confronting Russia, while also admitting that Washington’s approach thus far has been based on “magical thinking”. 

Or else we might just call the establishment narrative to this point fraudulent…

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Former commander who criticised Putin for the state of Russia’s air force is mysteriously found dead alongside his wife

A former commander of Russian air defences has been found dead alongside his wife under mysterious circumstances.

Highly-decorated Lieutenant General Vladimir Sviridov, 68, and his wife Tatyana, 72, were dead for around a week before their corpses were found, it is reported.

The retired pilot once criticised Vladimir Putin for running a ‘third-ranking’ air force, warning top officers were leaving the armed forces because of dire pay and conditions.

Russian authorities have been unable to ascertain the cause of death, local media reported. 

The general and his wife were found in their home in the village of Adzhievsky in Stavropol region.

‘Gas service workers have already taken measurements and no excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances has been detected,’ an initial report into their death read. 

‘What caused the death of Vladimir and Tatyana Sviridov is still unknown.’

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WaPo Drops Bombshell On The Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage Narrative: A Ukrainian Colonel, Covert Ops, & The CIA’s Shadow

No lesser deep-state mouthpiece than The Washington Post just dropped a bombshell with the revelation that Ukrainian Colonel Roman Chervinsky “was integral to the brazen sabotage operation” on the Nord Stream pipeline, “according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation.”

The bombing, dubbed a “dangerous assault on Europe’s energy infrastructure” by US and Western officials at the time, marked a critical juncture in the ongoing tensions between Russia and the West. By targeting the pipeline, the operatives (whoever they were) struck a blow to a critical artery of Russian energy exports, a sector that has been at the heart of European-Russian economic relations.

Additionally, as the Goebbels-ian narrative that ‘Russia did it’ was pushed by mainstream media (and politicians), it enabled further ‘aid’ to be sent to Ukraine, to ‘protect interests’.

Chervinsky, a senior figure within Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, was allegedly the “coordinator” of the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. The operation, executed with precision and secrecy, involved deep-sea diving and explosive charges, ultimately resulting in substantial damage to the pipeline which Ukraine had long complained would allow Russia to bypass Ukrainian pipes, depriving Kyiv of huge transit revenue.

Of course, as one would expect, the Ukrainian Colonel, via his counsel, refutes any involvement in the pipeline sabotage, blaming Russia for this accusation.

“Without merit, Russian propaganda is spreading all rumors regarding my participation in the assault on Nord Stream,” Chervinsky stated in a written statement to The Washington Post and Der Spiegel, which jointly investigated his activities.

It would not have been out of character as WaPo reports that Chervinsky is a decorated officer with extensive experience in covert operations, reportedly including plans to ensnare Russian Wagner mercenaries and targeting pro-Russian separatists, highlighting a pattern of aggressive, high-stakes operations against Russian interests.

Furthermore, WaPo reports that Chervinsky did not act alone and he did not plan the operation, again “according to the people familiar with his role,” but instead took orders from more senior Ukrainian officials, who ultimately reported to Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, “according to people familiar with how the operation was carried out.”

More problematically, Chervinsky’s involvement in the Nord Stream assault is in direct opposition to Zelensky’s public denials regarding Ukraine’s involvement.

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U.S. WEAPONS TRANSFERS TO ISRAEL SHROUDED IN SECRECY — BUT NOT UKRAINE

ONE MONTH SINCE Hamas’s surprise attack, little is known about the weapons the U.S. has provided to Israel. Whereas the Biden administration released a three-page itemized list of weapons provided to Ukraine, down to the exact number of rounds, the information released about weapons sent to Israel could fit in a single sentence.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged the secrecy in an October 23 press briefing, saying that while U.S. security assistance flows to Israel “on a near-daily basis,” he continued, “We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course.”

The argument that transparency would imperil Israel’s operational security — somehow not a concern with Ukraine — is misleading, experts told The Intercept.

“The notion that it would in any way harm the Israeli military’s operational security to provide more information is a cover story for efforts to reduce information on the types of weapons being supplied to Israel and how they are being used,” William Hartung, a fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and expert on weapons sales, told The Intercept. “I think the purposeful lack of transparency over what weapons the U.S. is supplying to Israel ‘on a daily basis’ is tied to the larger administration policy of downplaying the extent to which Israel will use those weapons to commit war crimes and kill civilians in Gaza.”

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