Putin's war

A despot's miscalculation, an underestimated opponent, the world in turmoil: much about Putin's attack on Ukraine is reminiscent of the Soviet Union's "Winter War" against Finland in 1939/40.

No, history does not simply repeat itself.
But the parallels between the so-called Winter War of 1939/40 and Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine today are nevertheless astounding, down to many details.

The Russian officers were afraid to tell Stalin the truth, the dream of empire, the overestimated and the underestimated army ...

But the end is hopefully different in Ukraine than in the Finnish war:
Stalin, for all his paranoia, also possessed icy calculation. As the weather improved, the Red Army finally broke through the Mannerheim Line in February 1940, but resistance remained tenacious. The dictator now feared that the Western powers might actually send troops and drag his state into the war between the Germans and the Allies, which until then he had watched with a cold smile. So the Soviet Union was content with what had been achieved and forced a hard but comparatively acceptable peace treaty on the Finns in Moscow on 13 March.


"The Face of War" is a selection of Martha Gellhorn reports, on the conflicts in Spain, Finland, China and World War II, with later reports on Vietnam, Israel and Central America.Really interesting reports and insights, not just about the Finnish-Russia war. (You can read the online for free via the online library @ archive.org.)

The Human Rights Watch organisation has compiled ample evidence of massive war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. In the report published on Sunday, the organisation describes cases of rape, two executions and several other assaults and looting by Kremlin troops. In all cases, human rights activists have been able to interview witnesses on the ground and by telephone.

HRW: Ukraine: Apparent War Crimes in Russia-Controlled Areas

Russian Army Executes Hundreds of Civilian Men in Bucha, Other Kyiv Suburbs. Bodies Litter the Stree
Source: Santa Monica Observer

Reports from several sources say that Russia has committed unspeakable war crimes, unprecedented in modern Europe, during its occupation of Kyiv's Northern suburbs.

In a Ukrainian town called Bucha, the Russian Armed Forces methodically murdered all men between the ages of 16 and 60. This is the town seen on American news shows Friday night April 1st. A video shows a car driving through Bucha's streets showing corpses lying on the ground.

It should be emphasized at this time, that no one has confirmed the number of dead. But if the reports are true, Russia has committed the kind of war crimes that have not been seen in Europe since World War II eighty years ago.

Read more: https://www.smobserved.com/story/2022/04/01/news/russian-army-shot-all-men-aged-16-to-60-in-bucha-7000-civilians-killed-if-true-biggest-war-crime-of-the-century/6642.html


Full Title: Russian Army Executes Hundreds of Civilian Men in Bucha, Other Kyiv Suburbs. Bodies Litter the Streets with Hands Tied Behind Backs

From the article:
"Russians executed every male civilian, aged 16-60 years in #Bucha city, #Ukraine before fleeing north from advancing Ukrainian army." tweeted Walter Lekh, an American reporter living in Lviv, 300 miles to the South West of Bucha.

Bucha had a pre war population of 28,000. By demographics, the town would have had about 7,000 men in that age group.


If this is true, this is genocide. It is the second Russian Holodomor against the Ukrainian nation. I don't know about you, but I've had enough. Give the Ukrainians what they need to win this war.

Ukraine invasion: Secret 'punishment from above' drone army taking on Russia
Source: Agence France Presse via The Daily Telegraph

Hidden in a secret location in Ukraine, novice pilots are creating a deadly drone army they’ve dubbed the “punishment from above”.

AFP
2 min read
April 2, 2022 - 8:04PM

At a secret location in Ukrainian city of Lviv, the windows taped up to ward off unwanted attention, underground hobbyists improvise deadly drones bound for the front line of the war against Russia.

On a cluttered table the X-shaped frame of one drone stands among bundles of plastic propellers and sachets of minuscule screws. Soon it will take flight with its payload: a wine bottle-sized antitank grenade designed to plunge on Russian armour.

Two other drones are already affixed with quad propellers, their squat bodies gaping with miniature bomb bays to rain explosives on Russian infantry challenging Ukrainian defenders to the north and east.

One more — the shape of a stealth bomber, the size of a bird of prey — will conduct reconnaissance missions for artillery squads, spotting targets and marking them for incoming fire.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/ukraine-invasion-secret-punishment-from-above-drone-army-taking-on-russia/news-story/2bd76c429c7781a1efd7739f2c42a814

NEW DELHI, March 18 (Reuters) - Iran is ready to meet India's energy security needs, its ambassador to India was quoted as saying on Friday, as negotiations continue between the world powers and Tehran on the lifting of sanctions against the OPEC-member.

Iran used to be the second largest oil supplier to India but New Delhi had to halt imports from Tehran after former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions on its oil exports.

"Rupee-rial trade mechanism can help companies from both the countries to deal with each other directly and avoid third party intermediation costs," Ali Chegeni was quoted as saying by Indian facilitation body MVIRDC World Trade Center.

India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, covers over 80% of its crude oil needs with imports.

India and Iran had devised a barter-like mechanism to settle trade where Indian refiners were paying for Iranian oil in rupees to a local bank and the funds were used by Tehran to pay for imports from India.

Due to sanctions, the India-Iran trade declined sharply from $17 billion in the fiscal year to March 2019 to less than $2 billion in April-January, the first 10 months of this fiscal year.

Chegeni said, "If both countries launch rupee-rial trade mechanisms, the bilateral trade could grow to $30 billion".

source

Prediction: The Ukraine Army will bottle up a large retreating Russian army group outside of Kyiv in the next two or three days.

Not for the weak of heart.

The Russian 7th Paratrooper Unit 11 is on for a special sort of hell.

Russian army escaping in trucks leave other Russian soldiers running after them in panic.

Ukrainian Mayor Killed 'Execution Style,' Thrown Into Pit by Troops: Report

A Ukrainian mayor and her family were reportedly killed in an "execution style" slaying by Russian troops before being thrown into a pit in a forested area, a local resident told the Associated Press on Sunday.

Olga Sukhenko, the mayor of the Ukrainian town of Motyzhyn, which is located near Kyiv, was allegedly shot alongside her husband and son for refusing to comply with Russian demands, the AP reported. The resident who spoke to the news outlet was identified only as a man named Oleg for security purposes.

Oleg told the AP that Russian troops targeted local officials across Motyzhyn and murdered those who did not cooperate. After the mayor and her family were shot, the man said they were thrown into a pit behind a plot of land that contained three houses that Russian forces occupied.

Prior to Oleg's account, Sukhenko and her family had been reported as kidnapped by Russian forces on March 23, the AP noted. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed the mayor's murder to the news outlet on Sunday, and said there are currently 11 other mayors or community leaders being held in Russian captivity across Ukraine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukrainian-mayor-killed-execution-style-thrown-into-pit-by-troops-report/ar-AAVOK52

Russia has always been led by butchers.........anyone remember the Katyn Forest Massacre?

Gazprom Germania, an energy trading, storage and transmission business ditched by Russia's Gazprom last Friday, will be transferred to Germany's energy regulator, German economy minister Robert Habeck said on Monday.

"First of all, they deny everything. And then they try to obfuscate, they create stuff on social media, which indicates,'Oh it's all very complicated and this was going on all the time, and that was going on, and no simple answers were possible'. And then a couple of years later, they often admit it, and they say, 'yes, yes, we did do this or we did do that, but you,(the West), do the same.'"

Michael Clarke defence and security analyst at think tank Rusi, on Russia's playbook.

German government warns Russian speakers of Kremlin disinformation


Foreign Minister Baerbock hinted that Russian services in Germany might be planning actions against Ukrainian refugees or at least spying on them. The minister said that the work of the expelled diplomats was "a threat to those who seek protection with us.

Does anyone remember the 20,000,000 Ukrainians starved to death in 32 and 33?

https://www.history.com/news/ukrainian-famine-stalin

The Ninth Bernie Gunther book A man without breth by Phillip Kerr deals with the Katyn massacre.

Bernie is providing security for an international war crimes Committee set up by the Nazis to investigate it. Obviously there's not a lot of countries willing to participate so it's Spanish fascists and the Swiss.

I cannot recommend Bernie Gunther highly enough. I'm a huge fan, the books are all really well researched with loads of historical detail. Bernie is the good German stuck in Nazi Germany. He's very good at his job, a detective which is why the Nazis use him.

He's a really good character, Kerr said he liked painting Gunther into moral corners, meaning there was no good way out. Despite his flaws, you're very much on Bernie's side.

The Security Council will meet
tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET to discuss the Bucha atrocity.

The UN Permanent Representative for the Russian Federation, Vasily Nebenzya, held a press conference today instead of the "emergency" meeting he was denied.

He was pretty furious over getting denied an immediate meeting at the UNSC over Bucha. He used words like "unbelievable, shameful, unprecedented, unthinkable, abusive, condescending, undermining, disgraceful, staining, demonstration of weakness, Western-backed provocation" to characterize the denial of his request.

Apparently, the UK is now presiding over the Council, and Barbara Woodward, the Permanent Representative who now holds that chair, decided that the Security Council wanted a "more informed meeting or briefing," and that this matter was not really an emergency," and also that there was "no reason for the emergency meeting." LOL. Russia had a tantrum over it.

All the expected lies poured forth at this presser. Russia is using lies as truth. They feel that because they say so, it must be the truth. There is that old joke about, We know it's a lie because his lips are moving.

A reporter asked a question, and revealed that the US is pursuing suspension of Russia from the Human Rights Council of the UN. She asked what did he think about that, and he responded that the Human Rights Council wasn't their (cup of tea.) Oh, really...

Their proof consists of really superficial details that have no smoking gun quality to them. They want to use videos of jubilant soldiers and civilians to say that there was no evidence of atrocities in the immediate aftermath of Russia getting kicked out of Kiev. He claimed the bodies on the streets had no signs of decomposition, so they must be staged. etc. etc. etc. He promised even more evidence at tomorrow's UNSC meeting.

But, I think he shot himself in the foot. He went that "bridge too far." He ranted on about how Russian soldiers would ask if they could shoot someone, and they were told, "Of course." He said that the citizens were wearing stripes (I think he meant arm bands) which color coded them from civilian to soldier. If you were wearing a blue or yellow stripe, you were a soldier; if you were wearing white or nothing, you were a civilian. But, he messed up because he said that soldiers asked if they could shoot people without a blue stripe, and they were told, "Yes."

He also said, as a defense, that "this is war" and civilians get killed. Well, at least he admitted that it was a war, and not some special action--whatever Russia said it was.

Sorry, but this is chilling and sobering. This is AWFUL. Talk about Nazis...

Another reporter said that she had learned that Ukraine has announced that there is another city, Bora...something...that was FAR WORSE than Bucha, with people killed or executed, after the Russian withdrawal, and the PR of the Russian Federation said he did not know anything about that. I imagine we will eventually hear of it, perhaps tomorrow.

Another reporter asked if the Ukrainian civilians that had been interviewed were lying when they said they watched their loved ones being shot by Russian soldiers, were those statements also fake, and he didn't give much of an answer.

If you have watched Barbara Woodward, PR of the UK at the UN, speaking in the past, you will know that she is very forceful in her speeches. She isn't demonstrating "weakness" at all. And, now she is presiding for one month. Too bad, Vasily.

You should watch this presser, if you can.

Who shot these civilians? Who buried them in a mass grave? They didn't shoot themselves. These are crimes against humanity committed by Russian troops in the name of Russia.

And yeah, there have been other countries, in other times, my own included, where atrocities have been committed in the name of war. But, this is now, and we have a chance to speak up against it. We have a chance to challenge this dreadful circumstance, and change this PR war where everything gets whitewashed. It's not acceptable for this to happen, just because it's WAR.