Tag: war

Russia declares war on Ukraine, explosions in Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Odessa, Lvov

Debkafiles – February 24, 2022

Vladimir Putin early Thursday, Feb. 24, announced a special military operation in the Donbas “to demilitarize” the region, amid unconfirmed reports of a huge seaborne landing in the Black Sea port of Odessa. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Mariupol, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkiv.

President Joe Biden will address the nation at noon on Thursday, after condemning Russia’s as “alone responsible” for “choosing a premeditated war” by an “unprovoked and unjustified attack.” The United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way, he said. “The world will hold Russia accountable.”

In an early morning address, Putin said the “special military operation” he had launched comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine. He added that Russia doesn’t have a goal to occupy the country. Putin said responsibility for bloodshed “lies with the Ukrainian “regime.” He insisted that the operation was targeting military installations and avoiding populated areas. Putin told Ukrainian service members to “lay down their arms and go home.”

The Russia’s defense ministry also denied attacking Ukrainian cities – saying it is targeting military infrastructure, air defense and air forces with “high-precision weapons.” Explosions nonetheless ripped through Kyiv, the capital, Mariupol and Kharkiv.

Unconfirmed reports said that Russian forces had destroyed or rendered unusable the Ukrainian navy and taken control of Boryspil Airport in Kiev. Other reports spoke of a huge seaborne landing in Odessa involving large landing craft and helicopters shortly after dawn. Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea and Azov Sea was cut off.

Ukraine was on Wednesday placed on a war footing and a state of emergency declared; 200,000 military reservists called up; border areas restricted and citizens given right to arm themselves.

https://www.debka.com

The U.S. Government Just Admitted That This Is A War That Will Determine Who Will Rule The New World Order

– February 24, 2022

We now have a war that the vast majority of us never wanted.  All of our lives are going to be turned upside down, the global economy is going to be absolutely eviscerated, and countless numbers of people are going to die.  I am very angry with Vladimir Putin and the Russians for launching a full-blown invasion, because it didn’t need to happen.  And I am also very angry with the Biden administration because it would have been so easy to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis.  Unfortunately, the time for diplomacy is now over and World War III has begun.

On Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price made a stunning admission regarding what this war is really all about.

According to Price, Russia and China “also want a world order”, but he warned that if they win their world order “would be profoundly illiberal”…

China has given “tacit approval” for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest invasion of Ukraine, in the judgment of U.S. officials, as part of a joint effort to undermine the institutions that American and allied leaders established to minimize conflict in the decades following World War II.

“Russia and the PRC also want a world order,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday. “But this is an order that is and would be profoundly illiberal. … It is an order that is, in many ways, destructive rather than additive.”

It would take an entire book to unpack everything that Price said there.

First of all, by stating that Russia and China “also want a world order”, he was tacitly admitting that the United States and other western nations desire to have a “world order” of their own.

And he implied that what we are witnessing is a battle over who will ultimately run the “world order”.

http://endoftheamericandream.com

Russia to Stage Massive Nuclear Drills Amid Ukraine Standoff

Newsmax – February 18, 2022

The Russian military on Friday announced massive drills of its strategic forces, a stark reminder of the country’s nuclear might amid Western fears that Moscow might be preparing to invade Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry said Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee Saturday’s exercise, which will involve multiple practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

The ministry said it planned the maneuvers some time ago to check the readiness of Russia’s military command and personnel, as well as the reliability of its nuclear and conventional weapons.

The war games follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s warning on Thursday that Russia could invade Ukraine within days.

Western fears focus on an estimated 150,000 Russian troops — including about 60% of Russia’s overall ground forces — concentrated near Ukraine’s borders. The Kremlin insists it has no plans to invade.

But Moscow has demanded that the U.S. and its allies keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of NATO, not deploy weapons in Ukraine and pull back NATO forces from Eastern Europe.

Washington and its allies bluntly rejected the Russian demands, and Moscow threatened to take unspecified “military-technical measures” if the West continued to stonewall.

Russia holds massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces on an annual basis, but the maneuvers planned for Saturday pointedly involve the Black Sea Fleet. The fleet is based on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

https://www.newsmax.com

The Palestinian Authority’s Child Soldier Strategy

Itamar Marcus – February 9, 2022

If you want to know what is really at the heart of the Palestinian conflict with Israel, don’t ask the politicians or the diplomats. Go to the real experts: Palestinian children. Unlike the rest of the world, they’ve been paying close attention to what their leaders and educators have been teaching them — and they’re already signing their lessons in blood.

For years, children interviewed on state TV have been echoing the messages they’ve been taught by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah: that Israel has no right to exist, and that their goal — for which they are anxious to sacrifice their lives — is Israel’s destruction.

Twelve-year-old Abd, who lives in a refugee camp just outside the PA capital of Ramallah, explained his life goals on PA TV: “The Jews stole our land from us and I have been waiting 12 years already… and my grandfather has been waiting 70 years. … I hope to return to Lod, my city … I feel that tomorrow I will return and liberate Palestine. … Every day, every minute, and every year I imagine that I’m in Lod…” (PA TV, November 3, 2020 and May 23, 2021) Lod is an Israeli city not far from Tel Aviv. The child lives near Ramallah, but Lod, he says, is “my city.”

Surprising? Not if you’ve been following the PA education of its children.

Palestinian children are indoctrinated to believe that they are victims of Israel’s existence from birth (“I have been waiting 12 years already”). The PA Ministry of Education recently included a giant map of “Palestine” that erased all of Israel in an event at a PA school. The words on the poster were explicit: “Palestine — the entire land is ours, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River.” (Facebook, PA Ministry of Education, November 16, 2021)

What about Israel’s right to exist? That is non-existent in the PA child’s world. Palestinian children are taught that Israelis are “foreigners who came from all ends of the earth, foreigners who did not know Palestine and did not live in it — neither them nor their fathers and forefathers.”

https://www.algemeiner.com

US Troops Prepare for Deployment to E. Europe From Fort Bragg

Newsmax – February 3, 2022

Paratroopers with the U.S. Army boarded aircraft on Thursday to leave for Eastern Europe amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

The soldiers were departing from Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Around 1,700 service members, mainly from the 82nd Airborne Division, are being deployed to Poland, while 300 others will move to Germany.

“What you’re seeing out here today… is a facility that we typically use for paratroopers before they load out to conduct their operation,” U.S. Army spokesman Matthew Visser said.

“Right now it’s being used for the pre-mobilization for soldiers from 18th Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division who are fulfilling their order to deploy to Europe, both to Germany and to Poland, in support of assuring our NATO allies and our partners in deterring Russia,” he said.

The United States said  on Wednesday it will send a total of nearly 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania to shield Eastern Europe from a potential spillover from the crisis over the massing of Russian troops near Ukraine.

Russia has denied plans to invade Ukraine. On Thursday, it accused Washington of ignoring its calls to ease the standoff.

https://www.newsmax.com

Russian ships, tanks and troops on the move to Ukraine as peace talks stall

– January 23, 2022

Russia has sent troops more than 4,000 miles to Ukraine’s borders and announced sweeping naval drills as Moscow expands its preparations for a potential attack on Ukraine as negotiations appear at a deadlock.

Six Russian landing ships capable of carrying main battle tanks, troops and other military vehicles travelled through the Channel en route to the Mediterranean last week in a deployment that could bolster an amphibious landing on Ukraine’s southern coast if Vladimir Putin orders an attack. Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed that Russia is hiring mercenaries and supplying its proxy forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with fuel, tanks and self-propelled artillery in preparation for a potential upsurge in fighting.

And a large military force, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, elite spetsnaz troops and anti-aircraft batteries, has arrived in Belarus from Russia’s eastern military district, an extraordinary deployment that western officials and analysts say could enable Moscow to threaten Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

The new deployments have worried US officials. “What concerns us is the total picture,” said a senior state department official in a briefing last week. “It is the amassing of 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders combined with moving forces into Belarus over the weekend … these numbers are beyond, of course, what we would expect with regard to a normal exercise.”

The new forces in Belarus, the official added, represent an “increased capability for Russia to launch this attack, increased opportunity, increased avenues, increased routes”.

The US president, Joe Biden, last week said that Putin himself may not know what he plans to do. But the results are either reckless brinkmanship or preparations for a large-scale military operation.

https://www.theguardian.com

New Russian hypersonic missile set for delivery

Jonny Tickle – January 21, 2021

Trials of the state-of-the-art Zircon sea-launched hypersonic cruise missile are currently being completed, and the projectiles will be deployed to the Russian Navy later this year, a deputy defense minister revealed on Thursday.

The Zircon has made significant headlines worldwide for its capabilities, and last year it was named by US Navy Admiral Charles A. Richard as a threat to America.

“Because of these challenges, our current terrestrial- and space-based sensor architecture may not be sufficient to detect and track these hypersonic missiles,” he said.

With testing now nearing an end, the high-speed guided projectile is due to be deployed in the near future.

“State tests of the Zircon sea-based hypersonic cruise missile are being completed. Its serial deliveries will start in 2022,” Aleksey Krivoruchko told his superior, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

The Zircon missile has been undergoing testing for seven years and in recent times has been fired from both frigates and submarines, with most testing being undertaken in the White Sea, in Russia’s far north.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the tests were proceeding well.

“Now, it is especially important to develop and implement the technologies necessary to create new hypersonic weapons systems, high-powered lasers, and robotic systems that will be able to effectively counter potential military threats, which means they will further strengthen the security of our country,” he said.

https://www.rt.com

US envoy in Europe says ‘drumbeat of war is sounding loud’

Laura Kelly – January 13, 2022

Washington’s envoy in Europe on Thursday issued a stark warning of war in Eastern Europe amid Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border but said the U.S. and the majority of its allies support ongoing dialogue to tamp down tensions.

“We’re facing a crisis in European security. The drumbeat of war is sounding loud, and the rhetoric has gotten rather shrill,” said Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Carpenter spoke with reporters following a meeting of the OSCE focused on advancing diplomacy between the U.S., Europe and Russia, the conclusion of an extraordinary session of three diplomatic meetings on the continent this week and in response to Russian military provocations.

“There’s close to 100,000 troops on the Russian side of its border with Ukraine. Their presence and the live fire measures being carried out are raising many questions about Moscow’s intention,” Carpenter said.

https://www.msn.com

Expert Warns Another War Between Israel, Gaza Could be Coming Soon

Chris Mitchell – January 3, 2022

JERUSALEM, Israel – On Saturday, Israeli warplanes launched strikes against terror targets inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after terrorists fired two missiles that landed off the coast of southern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck rocket manufacturing sites and Hamas military targets in Gaza.  Hamas fired heavy machine guns and – for the first time – anti-aircraft missiles at the Israeli warplanes.

The strikes mark only the second incident between Hamas and Israel since a ceasefire ended a war last May.

For 11 days in May, Hamas fired more than 3,000 rockets into Israel.  Israel’s Iron Dome shot down about 90% of those rockets while the IDF responded with surgical strikes against the terror group’s military infrastructure inside Gaza.

Jonathan Schanzer, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes in his new book “Gaza Conflict 2021” that much of the media covering the war got it wrong.

“You know, a lot of people talk about fake news. I’m not sure that applies here. I’m not even sure that the word bias applies here. The problem was, it was almost as if the West and the Middle Eastern media – and I would actually say that includes Israeli media as well as Arabic media – it seemed like they were covering two different wars entirely,” he told CBN News.

The majority of those reports stated the war began over disturbances on the Temple Mount and a real estate dispute in a Jerusalem neighborhood.

“That was all over the Western press, but yet, people just decided to ignore the fact that Palestinian elections were canceled, and that Hamas was angry and looking to make a splash. And that’s exactly what they did by launching the war,” said Schanzer.  “People forget – you know, they talk about how angry they are at Israel when it responds to these rockets, which by the way, I mean, these are provocations by Hamas.  Israel’s responses are almost entirely defensive in nature. But also people forget that Hamas almost single-handedly destroyed the peace process in the 1990s. So, if the concern is peace, the idea that you would blame Israel for a war with Hamas is rather ridiculous.”

Schanzer says much of the media also failed to recognize Hamas’s covenant to destroy Israel, fueled by their violent beliefs and main funding source: Iran.

https://www1.cbn.com

Is War Between Israel and Iran Inevitable?

Joseph Puder – December 29, 2021

In Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) annual assessment of the security situation and challenges to be faced in 2022, it appears that a moderate improvement in the security situation surrounding Israel is expected. The Israeli government approved the proposed budget submitted by the Defense Ministry. “Israel’s defense establishment will receive NIS 58 billion, an increase of NIS 7 billion.” The extra allocation takes into account the possible operations against the Iranian nuclear facilities and other maligned Iranian schemes. According to reports, Israel would purchase various types of manned aircraft, intelligence-gathering drones, and unique munitions needed for a possible attack on Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear sites.

The evolving strategic cooperation Israel has now with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, is a definite positive development for Israel. In addition, halting the Iranians and their proxies from advancing toward Israel’s Golan Heights, and the support Putin’s Russia is giving to Israel’s operations against Iran is clearly a positive development. The Russians have not obstructed Israeli aerial operations against Iran’s shipment of arms to Hezbollah, nor the Israeli attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) bases and their proxies in Syria.

What is difficult to predict, however, is when Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist groups in Gaza would choose to launch another mini-war with Israel. During the May 2021 war, or as Israel calls it, Operation Guardian of the Walls, Hamas, and the PIJ suffered significant losses in personnel and arms. Many of their top engineers were eliminated, and their “secret weapons” (mini-submarines, and drones carrying bombs) were destroyed, along with a large quantity of their rocketry. The IDF has recommended a tough approach against Hamas’ attempts to rearm.

Although the Lebanese Shiite-Muslim Hezbollah is far more powerful than its fellow terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, Sunni-Muslim Hamas, it is exercising far more restraint in operating against Israel. Having achieved supreme political and military power in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah knows that a war with Israel at this time would jeopardize all that he and Hezbollah have managed to accomplish. The 2006 Second Lebanon War Hezbollah waged against Israel was a devastating one for the Lebanese. A war now would be even more costly for the suffering Lebanese. While both Hamas and Hezbollah’s raison d’être is the destruction of the Jewish state, Hezbollah, unlike Hamas, will be held accountable in the confessional Lebanese system of government.

The chances for a war initiated by Israel’s enemies, i.e., Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas are projected to be low in 2022. The explosive situation that existed in the last few years on Israel’s northern border has been reduced, and it appears that neither Iran nor Hezbollah are ready for a full-scale war with Israel.

https://www.frontpagemag.com