Micaela Burrow – September 21, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down on the credibility of his threats to use nuclear weapons for Russia’s self-defense in a speech Wednesday morning, in addition to calling up hundreds of thousands of additional troops for battle.

In the largest escalation since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February, Putin made good on a partial mobilization for 300,000 reserve and special operations personnel in an executive order signed Wednesday. He issued veiled threats of nuclear strikes in response to the “aggressive policy of Western elites” to continue provoking Russia on the 1000-km line of contact in Ukraine and providing the Ukrainian army with weapons and supplies.

“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff,” he said.

Putin’s speech aired less than 24 hours after the Russian-installed leaders in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine’s south, as well as the two sympathetic presidents in the eastern Donbas region, announced plans to hold referendums on acceding to the Russian Federation later in September.

Russia at present does not exercise full control over the territories. Russia’s deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, said Tuesday that annexation of the regions would expand the list of possible military options amid Ukraine’s burgeoning counteroffensive in the east and south, Reuters reported.

Putin added that North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces were conducting reconnaissance operations over Russian territory and had openly discussed launching nuclear weapons against the federation, despite lack of evidence for the latter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In the speech, Putin also accused the West of committing “nuclear blackmail” over the Zaporizhzhia power plant, after Zelenskyy said Putin was engaged in “nuclear terrorism” for its dangerous shelling in the area.

https://www.wnd.com

Mac Slavo – September 14, 2022

There has been a lot of chatter about a third world war. In fact, Pope Francis has said twice now that the world is already in WW3 and Russia is now saying that security guarantees from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) are a “prologue to a third world war.”

The Kremlin made the comments in response to requests from Ukraine to supply it with a “NATO-esque” bloc that can be called upon to immediately defend borders with Russia. This was proposed by a working group established by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin’s reaction to Ukraine’s demand has been swift and fierce, with Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev warning that it is “really a prologue to the Third World War” if it gets enacted. He described a nuclear holocaust that would be the end result, according to the Odessa Journal. 

“Everything will flare up around them. Their people will seize grief to the fullest. Their earth will literally burn, and concrete will melt. We will also get a lot. It will be very bad for everyone,” Medvedev added.

Medvedev also warned the West against continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons. “If the pumping of the Kyiv regime with the most dangerous types of weapons continues, the military campaign will move to another level sooner or later. Visible boundaries and potential predictability of the parties’ actions to the conflict will disappear. It will follow its own military scenario, attracting new participants to it,” writes Medvedev.

Russia continues to punish the West, more specifically the European Union for the sanctions placed on it over the Ukraine “invasion.” Almost everything right now can be seen as instigation and ramping up of rhetoric. If it continues, it will explode in the third world war the ruling classes seem intent upon igniting.

https://www.shtfplan.com

RT – September 9, 2022

North Korea has issued a document outlining its approach to nuclear warfare, warning it will not hesitate to use the bomb if it perceives threats to its senior leadership or “important strategic targets,” state media has reported.

A statement on the “nuclear force policy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” was carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Friday, noting that while the government considers nuclear weapons a “last resort,” it would deploy them to prevent “aggression that seriously threatens the security of the state and people.”

The policy document went on to note that Pyongyang would launch a preemptive strike “automatically and immediately” if officials believe “the command and control system for the national nuclear force is in danger due to an attack by hostile forces.”

While the statement stressed that North Korea “does not threaten or use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries,” it warned it would forcefully respond to aggression, or to nations threatening the DPRK by “colluding with other nuclear-armed states.” It named five scenarios under which the military might launch a nuclear strike, including when the country is threatened with weapons of mass destruction, when leaders or “important strategic targets” come under attack, in the case of “an unavoidable operational necessity to prevent the expansion and prolongation of war,” or in response to any other “catastrophic crisis” that endangers the nation or its people.

https://www.rt.com

RT – September 2, 2022

China is taking steps to dominate the waters around Taiwan, drilling with simulated attacks on US Navy warships and updating its invasion plans to reflect lessons learned from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry has reportedly warned lawmakers in Taipei.

China has been “using combat drills to carry out simulated attacks on US ships that enter the first island chain,” Reuters cited the Taiwanese Defense Ministry as saying on Thursday in a report to the self-governing island’s parliament. The “first island chain” refers to a stretch of islands running from the outskirts of Japan to Borneo – a region where Beijing aims to gain strategic control by 2035, the ministry said.

According to the report, China is taking steps to prevent other countries from coming to Taiwan’s aid in the event of an attack. China’s military has ramped up intimidation tactics this year to undermine Taipei’s morale and force reunification negotiations, the defense ministry said. China has “substantially threatened our nation’s defense security and endangered peace, security and stability in the areas near the Taiwan Strait.”

Beijing cut off military and climate ties with the US and conducted war games in the Taiwan Strait last month, after US House Speaker Nancy Pelolsi defied Beijing’s warnings against visiting Taiwan. China considers Taiwan to be part of its sovereign territory and has vowed to reunify with the breakaway province, by force if necessary.

The Taiwanese defense report suggested that China could use special forces to “decapitate” Taiwan’s command systems. Beijing also is capable of using cyberwarfare to disrupt communications and could blockade Taiwan, cut off energy supplies and seek to wreck the island’s economy, the ministry said.

https://www.rt.com

Anthony Blair / Henry Holloway – August 25, 2022

EUROPE’S biggest nuclear power plant was disconnected from the power grid for the first time ever amid fears of a Chernobyl-style disaster, Ukraine’s state energy firm said.

Nuclear agency Energoatom said fire damage to overhead power lines caused the last two reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to be cut off.

An energy official who declined to be identified told Reuters that the two reactors that had been disconnected were being powered by diesel generators.

Each power unit that includes a reactor, a cooling system and other equipment has three Soviet-era diesel generators that “are not able to work for weeks”, the source said.

It comes amid looming fears the site could be the scene of a devastating nuclear disaster as both Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of putting the plant at risk.

Satellite images show Putin’s forces massing at the site amid growing calls for Zaporizhzhia to become a demilitarised zone.

Ukraine has accused Russia of torturing Ukrainian nuclear workers at the plant, further compromising safety at the plant.

Energoatom said the plant has now been disconnected from the network for the “first time in its history” after a fire at ash pits close to the facility damaged incoming power lines.

It is also reported communication channels around the plant have gone dark – with NetBlocks reporting a massive dip in the region.

Bringing the plant totally offline could potentially compromise safety systems and lead to disaster – with the two reactors currently being powered by backup diesel generators, officials told Reuters.

https://www.the-sun.com

Katie Davis – August 16, 2022

MORE than five billion people would die following a nuclear war between the US and Russia in a battle for food, a study claims.

Scientists believe the fallout from a mega nuke apocalypse would have a disastrous impact on food production – wiping out whole populations from starvation.

Boffins at Rutgers University have completed details analysis of the impact of a nuclear winter – and the results are chilling.

They believe the catastrophic repercussion of a nuke battle would see more than five billion people starve to death globally in the years after, on top of the vast numbers killed in the war.

Countries including the UK, US, Germany, France and China would see sheer devastation, with almost everyone dead by the second year, according to the study.

On the flip side, countries such as Argentina and Australia would thrive in comparison, with zero deaths despite the assumption all livestock would be dead and there would be no trade with other nations.

Professor Alan Robuck, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, said: “Everybody understands that the direct effects of nuclear war would be horrific, as we saw in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“Our work shows that more than ten times as many people could die in the rest of the world because of the impacts on climate and agriculture.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk

DW – August 12, 2022

Leading Russian politicians are rejecting the G7’s demand that Moscow hand control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since March, back to Ukraine.

“No and no again,” Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, answered when asked about the possible handover, according to the Russian Interfax news agency. To ensure the safety of the nuclear power plant, he said, complete control over the facility is necessary.

Kosachev’s sentiment was echoed by the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, who accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism.”

“And all the statements of support by the G7 foreign ministers are nothing but sponsorship of nuclear terrorism,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Ukraine has accused Russia of firing at Ukrainian towns from the site in the knowledge that Ukrainian forces could not risk returning fire. It says Moscow has shelled the area itself while blaming Ukraine. Russia says it is Ukraine that has shelled the plant. The security situation around the facility, which has been occupied by Russian troops since March, has deteriorated in recent days, with fresh shelling reported at the site on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the German government has expressed concern about the ongoing fighting in the area around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Berlin had “no findings of its own” that could confirm any of the conflicting accounts coming from Kyiv or Moscow, but Berlin was calling “on all sides to stop this highly dangerous shelling.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, also supported call for demilitarisation of the area starting with full withdrawal of Russian forces, and urged IAEA to visit. “Zaporizhzhia facility must not be used as part of any military operation,” he wrote on Twitter.

https://www.dw.com