Tag: ukraine

Speaker Johnson Wants to Pass Bill Sending Billions in Arms to Ukraine and Israel

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says he will work to pass a massive military aid bill for Ukraine and Israel once Congress returns to session next week, a move that could trigger a backlash from his party. House Democrats have vowed to shield the speaker from a GOP rebellion should he support the legislation.

Johnson has underscored the urgency of providing aid to Ukraine and Israel, declaring it a top priority upon the House’s return from Easter recess. “We’ll turn our attention to it and we won’t delay on that,” he told reporters last week.  

Sending billions more in aid to Ukraine is a volatile issue within the Republican Caucus. Johnson won his role as leader of the House, in part, because of his past votes opposing aid to Ukraine. However, since taking over as speaker, Johnson has repeatedly stated that he supports President Joe Biden’s $61 billion aid package for Kiev. 

The issue facing Johnson is how the aid to Ukraine is currently packaged. Initially, the GOP sought to include the funding in a bill that would also supply arms to Israel and Taiwan, as well as devote billions to border security. Last month, the Senate stripped the border funding and immigration reform from the legislation and passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill, including $61 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel. 

After passing the Senate over a month ago, Johnson has prevented the legislation from coming to a vote in the House. Some Republicans in the chamber say if Johnson brings the bill to the floor, they will vote to remove him as speaker. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke with the speaker by phone on Thursday and pressed Johnson to pass the bill. “In this situation, quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital. We recognize that there are differing views in the House of Representatives on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor,” Zelensky wrote on X.

To overcome the threat from a small number of Republicans, Democrats in the House have hinted that they would support Johnson’s continued role as speaker if he brings the bill for a vote. “If the choice is between Ukraine aid and providing a vote to stop a motion to vacate, or no Ukraine aid, I think there’s a lot of Democrats who would be willing to assist in getting it done,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told the Hill. 

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Did The US First Catch Wind Of The Crocus Terrorist Attack By Spying On Kiev?

This accounts for why the US only passed along vague information to Russia since it assumed that the GUR wouldn’t go through with the Crocus plot after ordering them to call it off, but Washington still wanted to discredit its rival’s government and security services, ergo its embassy’s provocative warning at the time.

The New York Times (NYT) cited unnamed sources on Thursday to report that “The adversarial relationship between Washington and Moscow prevented U.S. officials from sharing any information about the (Crocus terrorist attack) plot beyond what was necessary, out of fear Russian authorities might learn their intelligence sources or methods.” This vindicates President Putin, who the West hitherto claimed had downplayed terrorist threats in the run-up to one of the worst attacks in Russian history.

Without actionable intelligence and informed only of the US’ vague warning that large gatherings like concerts could soon be targeted, his security services were unable to stop the plotters, thus meaning that Washington is partially responsible for what happened by withholding specific information about it. Just as scandalously, this bombshell also prompted speculation about the exact sources and methods that America employed to first catch wind of this attack.

While it’s possible that the US learned about this from spying on the radical Telegram channel whose curators reportedly recruited the culprits, such as if the CIA had a mole inside that preacher’s team, the case can compellingly be made that this might have actually been brought to its attention by spying on Kiev. Last spring’s Pentagon leaks confirmed that the US has been spying on Zelensky, which Ukrainian officials told CNN was “unsurprising” but still left them “deeply frustrated”.

Those documents also confirmed that the US was spying on Ukraine’s military-intelligence service GUR as well, from whom they learned about a plot to attack the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the first anniversary of the special operation and then ordered them to stand down to avoid provoking Moscow. Seeing as how the Washington Post (WaPo) reported half a year later that the CIA rebuilt the GUR from the ground-up after 2014, it’s obvious that they embedded moles within that institution from the get-go.

They don’t always learn about terrorist plots ahead of time since their infiltration of the GUR and other Ukrainian government agencies isn’t total, but they’re still usually able to conclude sometime afterwards that Kiev was responsible whenever a serious attack happens in Russia. Such was the case last May when the NYT reported that Kiev was responsible for the Kremlin drone attack, in which piece they also reminded their reader that it was behind other attacks up until that point too.

These include the assassinations of Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky, cross-border terrorist raids into Russia’s Belgorod Region, and the Nord Stream II bombing. About that last-mentioned one, the claim of Ukrainian complicity might very well be a preplanned red herring for deflecting from American involvement after Seymour Hersh served as the conduit for dissident members of the Intelligence Community (IC) to inform the public that their country was the one that ordered that attack.

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Putin Beyond ISIS: Moscow Terrorist Attack ‘A Link in a Series of Attempts by the Neo-Nazi Kiev Regime’

On the ground, Russian forces behaved in a modified, more acute way after the false flag terrorist attack ultimately organized by Ukraine claimed the lives of hundreds of Moscow civilians.

But on the world stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a longer game, waiting for the investigations to demonstrate as clearly as possible the link.

Yesterday (26), in a Kremlin meeting, Putin acknowledged that the attack was carried out by Islamic militants but suggested it was also to the benefit of Ukraine and that Kyiv may have played a role.

Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the death toll had risen to 139, with 182 people wounded.

Reuters reported:

“‘We know that the crime was carried out by the hand of radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has fought for centuries’, Putin said in remarks posted on the Telegram messaging app.

He did not directly mention Islamic State, and repeated his previous assertion that the assailants had been trying to flee to Ukraine, saying there were “many questions” to be examined.

‘The question that arises is who benefits from this?’ Putin said. ‘This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.

‘We know by whose hand the crime against Russia and its people was committed. But what is of interest to us is who ordered it’.

Putin said the purpose of the attack was to ‘sow panic’. But as Russian forces were advancing through the Ukraine war theatre, he said, it could also be intended to ‘show their own population that not all is lost for the Kiev regime’.

Meanwhile, both the US and France push the ISIS story as hard as they can.

11 people have been detained, including the four gunmen, who were arrested as they made their way to cross into Ukraine.

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Western Banks Warn Against EU Plans To Give Russian Funds To Ukraine

Some Western banks are lobbying against an EU plan to use profits made by Russian central bank funds that are frozen in Europe to arm Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The European Commission has proposed sending up to 3 billion euros to Ukraine per year using the revenue. About 90% would go to a fund called the “European Peace Facility” that can be used to buy weapons for Ukraine, and the remaining funds would go to the EU’s central budget for other types of aid.

Russia has slammed the plan and has vowed to respond. “This is outright banditry and theft. These actions are a gross and unprecedented violation of basic international norms. We said that we would respond, and so we shall,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Sources told Reuters that banks fear they could be held liable by Russia in the future for being involved in the transaction. The report said once sanctions on Russia are eased or lifted, they could face decades of legal action.

The banks also worry the move would erode trust in the Western banking system. One source said it would set a bad precedent and that stealing the funds would amount to the “weaponization of foreign-held reserves and assets.”

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Moscow Detains 11 Terror Suspects, False Flag Theories Abound, Death Toll Rises To 115 And Will Likely Climb

Russian authorities point finger at Ukraine, as fugitives in car try to cross Ukrainian border.

“The terrorists involved in the attack on the concert building tried to escape to the Russia-Ukraine border,” the Central Investigation Department of the Russian Federal Security Service now reports. “The terrorists planned to cross the border and had contacts on the Ukrainian side. The terrorist attack was carefully planned.”

The death toll from yesterday’s terror attack in Moscow has risen to 93 and will likely climb.

Intelligence agencies have detained 11 people, including four terrorists, who were directly involved in an attack on the Crocus City Hall, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement.

“The activities of intelligence and law enforcement agencies have resulted in the detention of 11 people, including four terrorists, who directly participated in the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall,” the statement reads, reported Russian state media agency TASS.

“There are also reactions [to what happened at Crocus City Hall] that raise more questions. This certainly concerns comments from Washington, which said it saw no signs that Ukrainians might be involved in the terrorist attack,” Zakharova said on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

“If there is no such evidence, then neither the White House nor anyone else is in a position to postulate anyone’s innocence,” Maria Zakharova said

“What grounds Washington officials are using to draw any conclusions in the midst of the tragedy about someone’s noninvolvement is a big question,” Zakharova added. “If the US or any other countries had reliable information on that it should have been provided to the Russian side immediately. If there is no such information neither the White House nor anyone else has the right to indulge anyone,” she noted.

“To be honest, the reaction of the UN Secretary-General’s secretariat raises not simply questions, but big questions, as he stated, I mean the secretariat of his representative, that they are saddened by reports of shooting,” the spokeswoman said, adding that all adequate people, even considering various emotional level, had similar reaction: terror, shock, bewilderment, unconditional condemnation and compassion.

“What does sadness about shooting mean? Maybe no one else, but the United Nations and the secretariat of the UN in particular, and Secretary-General of this structure, and [UN] member-states should see what the rest of the world sees now, a bloody terrorist attack, and unconditionally condemn it,” she stressed.

Questions also have flooded the internet about a possible ‘false flag’ created by the Putin administration itself.

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In Ukraine, Graham Urges Expanded Conscription Despite Mounting War Fatigue

On his latest of far too many visits to Ukraine, Sen. Lindsey Graham on Monday urged legislators to expand the pool of citizens subject to being drafted and thrown into the country’s losing war against Russia, saying, “We need more people in the line.” 

The Ukrainian military accepts voluntary enlistments from those 18 and older. However, in stark contrast to Americans’ experience with military drafts, Ukraine exempts men under 27 from being conscripted. Since December, the country’s legislature has been considering lowering the minimum draft age to 25, to meet the military’s projected need for upwards of a half-million more soldiers. 

“I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe [conscription age starts] at 27,” Graham told the press. “You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27.”

Of course, Ukrainians are generally only “fighting for their lives” once they’re shipped east to fight an American-cultivated proxy war over territory that, as David Stockman puts it, “has been either a Russian vassal or appendage for centuries and where the term ‘Ukraine’ actually means ‘borderlands’ in Russian.”

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Former Top Polish Army Chief: ‘Ukraine is Losing the War’

A former top Polish army chief says Ukraine is losing the war and that “more than 10 million people are missing.”

General Rajmund Andrzejczak, the ex-chief of the Polish General Staff, made the comments during an appearance on Polsat Television.

“More than 10 million people are missing. According to my estimates, losses should be in the millions, not hundreds of thousands. The country has no resources, no one to fight. Ukrainians are losing this war,” said the general.

Andrzejczak pointed to Ukraine’s dwindling anti-aircraft missile supplies, which would allow Russia to conduct more effective strikes, casualties, and infrastructure damage.

“The Ukrainians are losing this war,” he stated emphasized.

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The CIA & the Russian Fascists Who Fight Russia

In the days leading to the Russian presidential election that concluded on Sunday, a network of three Russian paramilitary organizations working under the auspices of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, or GUR, launched a series of attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The purpose of the attacks was clear — to disrupt the three-day Russian presidential election by creating an atmosphere of weakness and impotence around President Vladimir Putin designed to undermine his authority, legitimacy and appeal at the voting booth.

The operation was months in the planning, and involved the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), the Freedom of Russian Legion (LSR), and the Siberia Battalion. All three of these organizations are controlled by the GUR, whose spokesman announced the attacks.

Left unsaid is the degree to which the C.I.A. was involved in what amounts to an invasion of the territory of the Russian Federation by forces operating under the umbrella of what is openly acknowledged to be a proxy war between the United States and its NATO allies against Russia.

While Ukraine maintains the attacks by the RDK, LSR, and Siberia Battalion are the actions of “patriotic Russians” opposed to Putin, the involvement of the GUR in organizing, training, equipping, and directing these forces makes their attack on Russian soil a direct extension of the proxy war between Russia and the West.

Given the extensive involvement of the C.I.A. in the work of the GUR, it is highly unlikely that an action of this scope and scale could have been executed without the knowledge of the C.I.A. and in the attacks, including its goals and objectives.

Indeed, the presence of high-end U.S. military equipment, including M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), in the order of battle in the attack by Russian insurgent forces points to a direct U.S. role, as does the political nature of the mission of election disruption, which has been a long-term objective of the C.I.A. in Russia stretching back decades.

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GAO: ‘Unclear’ If Pentagon Tracking Reports Of Misused Aid In Ukraine

While the Pentagon has assured Congress that no U.S. military equipment sent to Ukraine has been diverted, stolen, or otherwise misappropriated, a new report from the Government Accountability Office could not determine if the Department of Defense was tracking allegations of misuse two years into the conflict.

“If you never look, you will never find it,” a source familiar with how the report was compiled said of the worst-case possibility that aid was being misappropriated.

The report comes as President Biden struggles to keep the supply lines open to Ukraine. Although a majority of Congress supports sending further aid to help hold back the Russian onslaught, and the Senate passed a bipartisan aid package late last month, House Republicans have yet to approve the latest round of now-stalled military assistance.

The United States remains the leading supplier of munitions and other aid to Ukraine, providing more than $42 billion in assistance since Russia’s invasion. Much of it has come through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to transfer equipment from American stores directly to allies. The annual amount was limited by law to $100 million a year until Congress lifted the cap to $14.5 billion.

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Explosive Secret French Military Report Makes Shocking Admissions: “Ukraine Can’t Win!”

It’s come to light that according to sources from the French Marianne paper, Macron’s entire recent mental manqué resulted from a secret series of ‘assessments’ by the French military that not only provided an absolutely disastrous picture of the actual realities on the ground in Ukraine, but in no uncertain terms even concluded quite frankly that: “Ukraine cannot win this war militarily.”

“Ukraine cannot win this war militarily,” concludes the first report, written in the fall of 2023, following Kiev’s disastrous ground offensive. It praises the Russian forces as the new “tactical and technical” standard of how to run defensive operations and debunks the media myth of “meat assaults.”

Here’s a summary of the report from DDGeopolitics to get a quick gist:

While Macron might be preparing something disastrous, the French Armed Forces are trying to sound the alarm through the French media.

In the French publication Marianne, (https://www.marianne.net/monde/europe/guerre-en-ukraine-endurance-russe-echec-de-la-contre-offensive-ce-que-cache-le-virage-de-macron) which is very close to the French political class, French officers speaking on condition of anonymity spoke about their impressions of the war in Ukraine, the AFU and the Russian Armed Forces.

In summary, the officers speaking to the publication rated the Russian Army very highly. The Russian Army, contrary to Western media, trains its new recruits properly, organizes rotation of personnel and units in the frontline, and always mixes veterans with new recruits so the new soldiers can learn more quickly.

By contrast the Ukrainians blew their best and last chance for victory in the Summer 2023 offensive. The French Armed Forces also estimate Ukraine needs 30,000 – 35,000 new conscripts or recruits every month to keep their force levels steady but currently the Ukrainians are only inducting half that number.

The article assesses that there is no conceivable path currently to a Ukrainian military victory.

So it would appear quite plausible that Macron did in fact lose his lunch over the report from trusted military sources, which resulted in his Defcon 1 meltdown and Tourettes-like expectorations on troop deployment. Now he’s even announced plans to allegedly ‘address the public’ on the Ukraine issue tomorrow, per Le Monde paper.

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