Reader’s Links for May 29th, 2023

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Here is a link to the VladTepesBlog social media Mastodon Pod. Please feel free to check it out and sign up for an account if you are sufficiently annoyed with Twitter and Facebook to try something new.

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

101 Replies to “Reader’s Links for May 29th, 2023”

    • Islam cannot accept any mixing with Jahiliyyah. either Islam will remain or Jahiliyyah. Islam cannot agree to a situation which is half-Islam and half-jahiliyyah. In this respect Islam’s stand is very clear. It says that the truth is one and cannot be divided; if it is not the truth, then it must be falsehood. The mixing of truth and falsehood is impossible.

      The foremost duty of Islam in this world is to depose Jahiliyyah from the leadership of man , and to take the leadership into its own hands and enforce the particular way of life which is its permanent feature.

      Those who believed, and migrated, and strove with their wealth and their persons in the cause of God, and those who gave them refuge and helped them, are the protectors or each other. Qur’an 8:72

      No political system or political power should put hindrances in the way of preaching Islam. It should leave every individual free to accept or reject it, and if someone wants to accept it, it should not prevent him or fight against him. If someone does this, then it is the duty of Islam to fight him until either he is killed or until he declares submission.

      “La ilaha illa Allah”. There is no deity except God. Without this complete acceptance of La ilaha illa Allah, which differentiates the one who says he is a Muslim from non-Muslim, there cannot be any practical significance to this utterance, nor will it have any weight according to Islamic Law.

      When M-103 passed, the Muslim Brotherhood hoods in Canada, congratulated “Loyal servant Iqra Khalid”.

      In 2003 Senate Sub-Committee hearings on radical Islam, Senator Charles Shumer (NY) stated “To make matters worse, the prominent members of the Council’s (CAIR) current leadership who you Mr. chairman invited to the hearings today, they have declined to testify, also have intimate connections with Hamas.

      Hibz ut-Tahrir is active in the US and in Canada.

      Dr. Mohammed Malkawki “Let Britain, America and the entire West, go to hell, because the Caliphate is coming, Allah willing”.

      The leader in Canada is Mazin Abdul-Adhim, living in London, Ontario.
      “We owe Canada nothing”.
      Hibz openly states it is anti-democratic, anti-feminist and pro Shari’ah.

      One might consider reading The Muslim Brotherhood’s Strategic Plan for America —Court document

  4. Search and Rescue Ongoing After Apartment Building Partially Collapses in Davenport, Iowa (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft May. 29, 2023 7:15 am0 Comments

    Authorities in Davenport, Iowa, have launched search and rescue operations following the partial collapse of a six-story apartment building on Sunday.

    On Sunday, the Davenport Fire Department and Davenport Police Department responded to 324 Main Street for a report of a building collapse at approximately 4:55 pm.

    According to the officials, emergency responders detected a large leak of natural gas as well as water coming from every floor of the building.

    No immediate information was available on casualties or the number of persons who may be missing or trapped.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/search-rescue-ongoing-after-apartment-building-partially-collapses/

    • I remember the old football cheers

      Hold that line boys.

      Lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight.

      Too bad more people did not stand up for our freedom.

  7. Russian citizen arrested for burning kuran in one of Russian cities EXTRADICTED to islam region of chechnya…
    He was displayed in front of participants during the organised meeting in Grozny (capital of the region)

    Article and picture of participants with banners saying:
    Islam religion of tolerance, and
    We demand death sentence!

    https://t.me/c/1204430394/28872

    • description of the video – google translate :

      In Volgograd, 19-year-old VGSPU student Nikita Zhuravel, during his detention by Russian FSB operatives, admitted that he had collaborated with the Ukrainian special services and filmed military installations for them. According to the detainee, he made contact with the SBU via Telegram and received remuneration for his work.
      – For what reason was he detained? – investigators are interested in the detainee.
      “Because I was filming fighter jets,” Zhuravel replies.
      We are interested in what you did on May 4th. Voroshilovsky district, Povorinskaya street.
      – I burned the Koran.
      – How did you come to this?
      – People wrote to me in Telegram from Ukraine. They said that they just run a Telegram channel and want to help their country in connection with the holding of the NWO. They offered me money.
      The detention of the student became known on May 20. The day before, various Telegram channels circulated a video in which an unknown person, standing in the bushes next to the mosque, burns the Koran and films it. As Zhuravel confessed to the FSB operatives, he sent the video to the SBU immediately after filming, that is, on May 4.
      A criminal case was opened against a student of the Volgograd Social and Pedagogical University in relation to the detained SU Investigative Committee of Russia for the region.

      • These are Chechens fighting as mercenaries in the Akhmat Battalion under Ramzan Kadryov. They’re quite effective when they’re not doing tic-toks online. They took Mariupol last year, then paused. Now they’re back.

        There are others fighting on the other side. Definitely creepy to hear them all aloha-snackbar-ing on both sides of the line.

      • Of course these tards shall inherit.

        Dan Greenfield, March 5, 2022:
        Islam is the only winner in the Ukraine War

        Russia, with a birth rate of 1.5 children per woman, has invaded Ukraine, where the birth rate is 1.2 children per woman, to determine which nation with below replacement birth rates will go extinct the fastest. In the long run the only winners of the war to determine whether Ukraine will belong to the 1.2 or 1.5 people will be the Chechen and other Muslim soldiers doing the fighting.…

        Western Europe and Russia have dueling visions for Ukraine and the territories of the former Soviet Union. Europe would like them to join a wonderful union based around peace, tolerance, and importing millions of Muslims to balance out all the peaceful tolerant Europeans. Putin would like to induct them into Greater Russia which will unite Islam and Christianity.

        Europeans claim that they can have a tolerant society built around the demographic growth of a religion that murders unbelievers. Putin claims that a new Christian Russian empire will be built on a multifaith alliance with a religion that has spent centuries destroying Christian empires…

        Dimitry Smirnov, Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Affairs, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood for the Russian Orthodox Church, agreed with the Chief Mufti:

        “Muslims have more children. Not Tatars, but Caucasians. The Chechens have eight children and the Ingush. The Russians will run out by 2050. Other nations will live here: Chechens, Ingush, Arabs.”

        Asked if there was any hope, the archpriest said, it was “already too late.”
        […]
        Whatever casualties the current war will bring, the Russians and Ukrainians are killing themselves much faster than each other with over 600,000 abortions per year in Russia and under 75,000 in Ukraine. Both countries also have some of the worst suicide rates in the world. Russia has the third highest suicide rates in the world and Ukraine has the seventh highest suicide rate for men. These are not the characteristics of people who believe in the future.

        Behind the dueling campaigns of propaganda, the total saturation of lies, are these grim realities of despair and death. The spurious nationalism is a facade for the hard realities that Ukrainian and Russian boys are dying in a pointless war whose only winners will be the migrant hordes flooding out of the ‘Stans’ and out of Asian and Muslim Middle Eastern nations to replace them.…

        https://robertspencer.org/2022/03/islam-is-the-only-winner-in-the-ukraine-war

  9. French Telecoms Minister Threatens Twitter With Ban in EU Under ‘Disinformation’ Law

    MOSCOW (Sputnik) – French Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications Jean-Noel Barrot threatened Twitter on Monday with legal action that could include an EU-wide ban if the social media platform does not comply with new EU rules designed to combat what Brussels considers disinformation.

    “A regulation will take effect on August 25 that requires big social media platforms to take action against disinformation … I want Twitter to come in compliance by August 25 with the new EU rules that we have adopted. If not, it will no longer be welcome in Europe,” Barrot told France Info radio.

    Asked if he was hinting at a blanket ban, the minister said that if Twitter did not comply with the rules, it would be banned by the European Union in the event of a repeat offense.

    Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, last week pulled the popular microblogging site out of the EU’s voluntary code to fight “disinformation.” European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton warned that Twitter would still be bound by the EU’s Digital Services Act, which targets platforms with more than 45 million monthly active users.

    In February, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed concern that Twitter’s policies under Musk would harm efforts to fight disinformation and manipulation, including by removing free access to its application programming interfaces.

    In October 2018, at the suggestion of the European Commission, major IT companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Twitter signed the Code of Practice on Disinformation, which outlines commitments and concrete actions signatories pledge to take to fight disinformation online.

    https://sputnikglobe.com/20230529/french-telecoms-minister-threatens-twitter-with-ban-in-eu-under-disinformation-law-1110770966.html
    =============================

    ( 1 min 10 )
    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8lc1t0
    ============================
    ( 25 min )

      • the conservative tree house – Musk Admits He Doesn’t Control Platform Censorship Decisionmaking – Watch the Twitter Financials

        Everything I have outlined about Twitter is going to surface as accurate over time. There are two major elements: (1) DHS govt influence, now evidenced in the Twitter Files; and (2) the Twitter financial issues, which explain the recent hiring of Linda Yaccarino, which are soon to surface.

        Yesterday, Elon Musk responded to criticism of Twitter censorship, vis-a-vis government demands, with this Tweet: “Please point out where we had an actual choice and we will reverse it.”

        The Musk supporters are saying Musk has to comply with government demands if their national laws require it. However, that angle doesn’t take into consideration the choice that Musk/Twitter always have.

        If the platform content is not approved by a government, and that govt then demands removal or censorship of that content, Twitter always has two options. One, to comply with the demand and block or restrict the user content (which is the direction they have taken); or two, stop allowing the platform to operate in the country demanding the censorship. It is the latter option that everyone always avoids mentioning.

        However, the issue appears to be bigger and goes to the heart of the second aspect of Twitter we have noted.

        MORE :

        https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/29/musk-admits-he-doesnt-control-platform-censorship-decisionmaking-watch-the-twitter-financials/

    • the telegraph UK – Electronic passport gates fail at all Britain’s major airports

      Half-term travel chaos threatened to engulf UK airports as electronic passport gates across the country failed nationwide.

      All airports across the country using the gates are affected after a system crash on Friday, with passengers returning to the UK facing delays.

      The issue means those flying in are having their passports checked manually.

      The Home Office said it was “working hard” to resolve the issue “as quickly as possible” but could not give a timeframe amid the threat of the issue “snowballing” as half-term looms.

      “We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK,” a spokesman said.

      “We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption for travellers.”

      British travellers said Europeans in passport queues were “laughing at us” because of the e-gate failure.

      Chris Lord wrote on Twitter: “Embarrassing. I was stuck in a queue for over an hour, after a two-hour delay.

      “We are a joke, the Europeans in the queue were laughing at us. And the welcome you get from the people behind the desk is a disgrace, I would turn around and go home.”

    • the sun UK – Travellers face hour-long delays as UK airports face border system issue

    • sky news UK – Passengers complain of delays after airport e-gates stop working nationwide

  10. Unhinged Climate Activist Disrupts Swedish TV Show, KO’d by Cameraman
    By Margaret Flavin May. 29, 2023 9:15 am34 Comments

    Another day, another meltdown by an environmental wacko. Whether they are vandalizing the Trevi Foundation or damaging a Degas sculpture, damaging a German artwork, or throwing tomato soup at a Van Gogh, unhinged climate activists can’t help throwing public tantrums like whiney toddlers.

    On Friday, during the finale of Sweden’s Let’s Dance television show, eco-activists from Restore Wetlands stormed the stage to unfurl a banner and vandalize the set with paint.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/unhinged-climate-activist-disrupts-swedish-tv-show-kod/

  11. Spanish conservatives score big win over ruling Socialists in local elections

    Results are blow to prime minister Pedro Sánchez but victorious PP will need hard-right Vox party to govern

    Spain’s conservative People’s party inflicted a resounding defeat on the ruling Socialist party in local and regional elections on Sunday, but despite its big gains the PP will need the support of the hard-right Vox party to govern in many areas.

    The vote in 12 regions and more than 8,000 municipalities was a crucial test of the national mood and produced grim results for prime minister Pedro Sánchez, suggesting he will face an uphill struggle to hold off emboldened conservatives in a general election due in December.

    The PP won 31.5 per cent of the vote in the municipal elections, a nine percentage point surge from its showing in 2019 elections, while the Socialist’s 28.1 per cent marked a drop of one percentage point. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP’s leader, hailed the night as the start of a “new political cycle”.

    José Pablo Ferrándiz, a director at pollster Ipsos, said the elections had been an “unmitigated defeat” for the Socialists. “It cannot be hidden or underestimated. Sánchez comes out wounded and Feijóo reinforced.”

    But the PP did not secure the absolute majorities it wanted in many regional and municipal legislatures, meaning a new era for the Spanish right that will entail coalitions or voting pacts with Vox in order to form many governments.

    With Vox securing 7.2 per cent of the municipal vote, the results also raised the spectre of a PP-Vox national coalition if the right prevails in the general election. That would make it the first hard-right party in the central government since Spain’s return to democracy more than 40 years ago.

    At the municipal level, the PP ejected Socialist mayors in places including Sevilla, Valladolid and the city of Valencia, although it will need Vox to govern.

    In Barcelona, where national politics were not at play, the leftwing mayor Ada Colau was defeated by Xavier Trias, a pro-business Catalan nationalist and former mayor, who blamed the incumbent for a sense that the city has lost its way. Trias, however, will need the votes of other parties to reach a majority in the city council, meaning a period of lengthy negotiations is likely to begin.

    […]

    https://www.ft.com/content/4b3f901e-d6b9-449c-b79b-8fc02250ed15
    ================================
    Spain moves to the right in nationwide local elections

    Socialist Party has lost in several key cities and regional governments

    Spain has decisively swung toward the right after local elections Sunday resulted in right-wing parties winning power in most major cities and in several regional governments.

    The conservative Popular Party and far-right party Vox surged in popularity across the country as the liberal Ciudadanos party virtually disappeared.

    The outcome was a blow for Spain’s left-wing parties, particularly since it occurred only months before general elections.

    The Socialist Party is likely to lose leadership of the regions of Valencia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands and La Rioja, with the vast majority of the vote counted. However, in many of those regions, the Popular Party fell short of an absolute majority and will likely need to negotiate with Vox.

    The Popular Party is also set to replace the Socialist Party in Extremadura, with 79% of the votes counted. Meanwhile, with 78% of the votes tallied, the Socialist government in Castilla-La Mancha is hanging on by a thread.

    In both the city and region of Madrid, the Popular Party appears set to win absolute majorities and will not have to rely on Vox. Meanwhile, the far-left party Podemos has lost its representation at both levels of Madrid’s government.

    The Popular Party also gained the leadership of Cantabria from a regionalist party.

    The mainstream conservative party has also won power in all major cities in Andalusia, many of which have traditionally been left-wing strongholds. Cadiz, for example, has ousted a far-left Podemos mayor in favor of a Popular Party mayor.

    Barcelona also voted out its far-left mayor Ada Colau for a liberal separatist candidate — former mayor Xavier Trias.

    “The results of these elections are worrying. The advance of the reactionary wave is clear, and the retreat of the left and progressive governments is a clear warning that we need to know how to listen to,” tweeted United Left leader Alberto Garzon.

    Meanwhile, hundreds gathered outside the Popular Party’s headquarters in Madrid to celebrate.

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/spain-moves-to-the-right-in-nationwide-local-elections/2908722

    ==============================
    the guardian – Spain’s PM calls snap election after opposition triumphs in local polls

    Pedro Sánchez says Spaniards need to clarify what they want after gains by conservative and far-right parties

    Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has responded to the triumph of the rightwing opposition in Sunday’s regional and municipal elections by calling a risky snap general election that will determine his political future and that of his minority coalition government.

    The conservative People’s party (PP) – which used the votes as a de facto referendum on Sánchez’s coalition with the far-left, anti-austerity Unidas Podemos alliance – scored an emphatic win, far exceeding expectations and building on its momentum in the polls. As well as securing absolute majorities in the Madrid region and the city council, it took regions including Aragón, Valencia and the Balearic islands from the prime minister’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE).

    The PP’s failure to achieve the necessary majorities in many of the newly-won regions, however, means it will have to strike deals with the far-right Vox party, which also comfortably increased its showing on Sunday.

    Sánchez’s high-stakes gamble, which he announced just hours after the results came in, is based on the hope that any such deals will help to galvanise and mobilise leftwing voters and prove distasteful to supporters on the PP’s moderate wing.

    Speaking at the Moncloa palace in Madrid on Monday morning, Sánchez said he had informed King Felipe of his decision to dissolve parliament and call a general election on 23 July, five months before the poll had been scheduled to be held.

    “I’ve taken this decision in view of yesterday’s election results,” he said. “The first consequence of the results is that magnificent socialist regional presidents and mayors who have governed impeccably have lost despite the fact that many of them increased their support yesterday. The second consequence is that many, many institutions will be administered by new majorities comprising the People’s party and Vox.”

    Sánchez said that while Sunday’s votes had been municipal and regional, they had “transmitted a message” that transcended local considerations and demanded a democratic response. Announcing the election, he stressed Spain’s economic recovery since the start of the pandemic and the country’s forthcoming EU presidency, and said it would be for the Spanish people to decide what happened next.

    “I think we need a clarification when it comes to what the Spanish people want, a clarification when it comes to the policies that the national government should offer, and a clarification when it comes to the political groups that should lead this phase,” he said.

    “There’s only one infallible method for resolving those doubts, and that method is democracy. As a result, I think the best thing is for Spanish men and women to have their say and to decide the country’s political direction as soon as possible.”

    The PP’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, welcomed the early election but suggested Sánchez had called it in an attempt to distract from the drubbing his government had received on Sunday.

    “Announcing a snap election won’t hide what happened yesterday,” he said. “Spaniards have said enough is enough, and I’m grateful that that sentiment has translated into a clear victory for the People’s party. But, even more importantly, another way of doing politics has started to win.”

    Feijóo has attempted to move the PP back to the political centre ground after the party lurched to the right under his predecessor, Pablo Casado, who embraced a harder line in an effort to stop the party being outflanked by Vox. Despite the fact that Casado once famously attacked the far-right party for practising politics based on “fear, anger, resentment and revenge”, the PP formed an often rocky coalition government with Vox in the Castile-León region last year.

    Eyes will now turn to Podemos and Sumar, the new leftwing platform led by the labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, to see whether the two groups join forces to fight the election.

    Podemos suffered disastrous results on Sunday as its support collapsed in key regions. The party’s leader, Ione Belarra, went on the offensive on Monday, describing the PP and Vox as a “reactionary wave” that would seek to cut public services, bring in privatisation and reverse the progress the coalition government had made on tackling the climate emergency, improving housing and protecting social rights.

    Díaz, meanwhile, signalled that her movement was more than ready for the early election. “We have a project that can provide answers to our country’s social, ecological and economic issues,” she said on Monday. “We’re heading out to win against Feijóo’s black Spain. The people are waiting for us.”

    Sánchez’s decision to call an early election is not his first big gamble. After being defenestrated as party leader in 2016, he staged a triumphant comeback that culminated in the vote of no-confidence that cast the PP out of office in 2018. He also propelled the PSOE to two general election victories in 2019, although the party fell short of a majority on both occasions, leading to the coalition with Unidas Podemos.

    Antonio Barroso, an analyst at the political consultancy Teneo, said it remained unclear whether Sánchez’s latest bet would pay off.

    “The PP has maintained its lead in opinion polls despite sharing power with Vox in the Castile-León region since 2022,” he said. “This creates some doubts about the effectiveness of a strategy centred on mobilising leftwing voters against a potential rightwing government.

    “Moreover, Spain has never held a general election in the middle of the summer, which generates some uncertainty regarding whether the chosen date will have a negative effect on turnout.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/spain-pm-calls-snap-election-after-opposition-and-far-right-wins-in-local-polls-pedro-sanchez

  12. Russia Issues “Arrest Warrant” For Senator Lindsey Graham
    By Anthony Scott May. 29, 2023 9:35 am

    Just 48 hours after Senator Lindsey Graham took a trip to Kyiv to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia’s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Graham.

    The arrest warrant comes after a viral video of Graham saying “The Russians are dying” and it’s the “best money we’ve ever spent” took over Twitter.

    Dmitry Peskov, who serves as the Kremlin’s spokesperson, was quoted saying “It’s hard to imagine a greater shame for the country than having such senators.”

    Here’s the video that led Graham’s “arrest warrant” being issued:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/russia-issues-arrest-warrant-senator-lindsey-graham/

  13. Google Receives Backlash After Its Homepage Lacks Adequate Effort to Properly Honor Fallen Heroes on Memorial Day
    By Anthony Scott May. 29, 2023 9:00 am72 Comments

    When it comes to memorializing a Member of the LGBTQ community Google goes all out for its home page graphics but today on Memorial Day Google is receiving backlash after its lackluster effort to honor American heroes.

    Google’s new grey graphic to honor those who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces, lacked any type of creativity or color.

    LOOK:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/google-receives-backlash-after-its-homepage-lacks-adequate/

  14. The Optimistic Conservative
    Memorial Day 2023
    We will not forget.

    In pondering a holiday message each year, I go back and look at what I’ve posted for it in the past. This year, on rereading the “Priorities, USA” article for 2022, I concluded that it’s still a timely message, and should be the bulk of what I advocate taking in this year.

    As time passes, we are flicked more and more on the raw by the things we are having to face up to right now – epochal things, things of an entire age of the human journey. We find we can’t flee them. They come to find us. They won’t rest unresolved.

    The purchases of the blood shed for America, by the ones we remember on Memorial Day, still hang in the balance. The issues from last year are still the ones we need to grapple with. America is about our character, yes, but what we expect of government, and whether we approach it in weakness and fear or in courage and realism about its proper role, is one of the most important manifestations of character. We will serve something; will we substitute government for God?

    Our Founders most emphatically did not want us to do that. Their whole purpose was to design government so that it could not be “God” to us. A government that purports to fill the role of God is much more to be feared than liberty. Turn ourselves over to a human government with godlike powers, and the lying, brutality, and dealing of death start immediately.

    That is America’s most consequential “national security” issue in 2023. Nothing else comes close. So I commend to you for review the TOC article from 2022.

    I’ve also become a bit tired of the annual lectures about the meaning of Memorial Day. Leading with a tone of rebuke has become one of the most dysfunctional, discouraging elements of our public atmosphere today, and it’s not just leaving people feeling harassed and disheartened; it’s neutralizing the effect we need from rebuke used sparingly, and as a timely word to the spirit.

    So here’s my little mite about how we’re remembering Memorial Day.

    I won’t be looking at a single American to accuse him or her of not remembering what the holiday is for.

    This year, as Memorial Day approached, we heard news of the death of the last of our Pearl Harbor survivors, Jack Holder. The custody of memory changes hands.

    A new generation sings our national anthem.

    An older one administers the 21-gun salute – a tradition each Memorial Day at TOC.

    Let freedom’s ring be a carillon of life, not a toll of death, for our fallen heroes.

    https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2023/05/28/memorial-day-2023/#more-8155

    • MAY 28 2023 – WaPo- The American military veterans who’ve fallen in Ukraine

      On Memorial Day, families and friends reckon with the meaning of service under one flag — and sacrifice under another

      The two military officers, crisply attired in blue dress uniforms, ascended the front porch of a single-family home. One clutched a vinyl case containing an ornate white urn and, within, the ashes of Army veteran Andrew Peters.

      The scene that April evening in Marshfield, Wis., was strikingly similar to the thousands of casualty assistance calls made by members of the U.S. military over 20 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the officers offering condolences on behalf of a grateful nation as the soldier’s parents, John and Heather, shuddered with grief. But there was a significant difference: Peters, 28, had died in February while fighting as a volunteer with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, and the respects paid to his father and mother were delivered not from the U.S. government but by Ukrainian military personnel dispatched from their embassy in Washington.

      “It’s a weird, mixed feeling,” John Peters said, recalling the experience. “It’s great to have him home and his remains, but it’s finally sunken in: He’s never going to come back.”

      As America’s most recent wars fade into history, some veterans have chosen to take up arms in Ukraine and, in at least 16 instances, given their lives while either defending its people from Russia’s onslaught or aiding those trapped in the violence. They’ve done so as private citizens, disregarding repeated official warnings from President Biden and others in his administration that grave danger awaits anyone who steps foot on the battlefield.

      It’s unclear how many Americans have taken such risks. Possibly thousands. Ukraine claimed at the war’s outset last year that upward of 20,000 U.S. citizens expressed interest in joining the country’s foreign legion, which pays between $500 and $3,500 per month in exchange for a contractual commitment to serve for several months.

      Survivors of those killed say the decision to trade the relative safety of home for a cause in a country not their own was inspired by the same democratic ideals that undergird service in the U.S. military: love of liberty, disdain for tyranny. Sometimes the choice was influenced, too, by a desire to escape personal turmoil, or a lust for action.

      Memorial Day, by tradition, is a remembrance of those who’ve fallen fighting America’s wars. This year, for these families, it surfaces a complicated set of emotions as they are forced to reckon with the meaning of service under one flag and sacrifice under another.

      Two flags on display

      Andrew Peters, like many other American volunteers in Ukraine, had been affected by the televised images of civilian suffering and by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal to military veterans worldwide for help repelling the Russians.

      He had struggled adjusting to civilian life in Wisconsin after leaving the Army a few years earlier, his father said. And initially, Peters’s parents tried to talk him out of going to Ukraine. But when their son was undeterred, the family approached the decision together, with his father, a Gulf War veteran who also served in the Army, considering volunteering, too.

      “After a couple of weeks, I kind of came to my senses and was like, ‘Is this something you really want to do at 53?’” John Peters said. “So I told Andrew, ‘I’m going to sit this one out.’ He never admitted it, but I think he was probably relieved that his old man wasn’t going to come along and embarrass him.”

      Memorial Day resonates differently this year, he added, with heartache because of his son’s death. But the father knows the situation isn’t quite the same as if Andrew had been killed while in the U.S. military, and he has balked at suggestions from friends that his son’s name should be added to a local memorial that recognizes U.S. troops killed in combat, he said.

      “I could see that being a disaster waiting to happen or cause some grief with people who probably have no business speaking their mind,” he said.

      The family will mark Andrew’s death in other ways, his father said. He’s hung American and Ukrainian flags outside their home. They also plan to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony.

      The white urn containing Andrew’s remains still sits on a mantle in the Peters home, next to a photograph of him and his black Labrador retriever, Pepper, a service dog who helped him work through the difficulties he faced after leaving the Army.

      Most days, Pepper now goes to work with Andrew’s mother, a sixth-grade teacher.

      ‘Closure’
      Nick Maimer, 45, who had served two decades in the Army, taught English in Spain before Russia’s invasion, he told the Idaho Statesman last year. His “moral compass” guided him to Ukraine, he said.

      Quiet and contemplative, with little regard for personal possessions, Maimer instead focused on helping anyone he came across, his uncle, Paul Maimer, recalled, saying that those values earned his nephew enduring friendships throughout his hometown of Boise, Idaho, and beyond.

      Often, that meant sharing his knowledge and passions. Maimer for years visited the middle school where his aunt teaches science, enrapturing students with presentations about snakes.

      “And that’s what he did when he went to Ukraine. He had this knowledge, being an ex-Green Beret,” and a strong motivation to teach, Paul Maimer said.

      His death, apparently in a building collapse somewhere near the besieged city of Bakhmut earlier this month, was disclosed in a poorly lit video showing Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin. A close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin and his private army have assumed a lead role in the war. In the video, he stands near a lifeless body and taunts the United States. In his hands is a notebook holding Maimer’s Idaho driver’s license and Veterans Affairs card.

      Ukrainian forces have since received the remains, and the Maimer family expects they will be returned to the United States soon.

      “It’s amazing, concerning the circumstances,” Paul Maimer said. “There can be some closure. At this point that is all that we can ask for.”

      A burial beside his father
      In Mobile, Ala., the mother of Cooper Andrews, a retired Marine Corps sergeant killed around Bakhmut on April 19, is fighting to have her son’s remains brought back to the United States.

      Andrews, 26, had been in Ukraine for months, having gravitated toward the opportunity to fight fascism, said his mother, Willow Andrews. He knew it was dangerous, she said, but he was eager to help evacuate those in danger.

      “He kind of had the attitude, ‘If I don’t do it, who’s going to do it?’” his mother recalled.

      Andrews, who grew up outside Cleveland, was passionate about social justice and inspired by the 2014 police killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, his mother said. Since Andrews’s death, his family has raised more than $20,000 in his name to assist charities focused on food insecurity and community organizing.

      Andrews, who was Black and had become an Eagle Scout as a teenager, liked the structure of the Marine Corps, his mother said, though he was disturbed by the racism he encountered in the ranks. In one case, he was called a “Black nationalist” by White colleagues who confronted him for reading a book about Malcolm X, Willow Andrews said.

      “They just couldn’t grasp the idea that he could want all kinds of knowledge and still just be a person,” she said.

      His experiences were better in his Ukrainian unit, his mother said. “We are brothers, Mom,” she recalled him saying.

      The family held a memorial service for Cooper on May 20 at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church in his hometown of Cleveland Heights.

      When his remains return to the United States, Cooper will be buried alongside his father in Cleveland, his mother said. She has sought help from the Ukrainian community in Ohio after losing faith that the State Department will get the job done, she said. Communication with the U.S. government, she said, has been frustrating, inconsistent and at times exasperating. She has relied, in part, on updates from European families with connections to her son’s unit.

      A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the agency, defended the administration’s efforts in this case and others, saying the U.S. government “takes its role in such a situation very seriously” and shares information with families “whenever possible.”

      ‘What shores know not our blood’
      Earlier this month, a plane carrying the remains of Marine Corps veteran Grady Kurpasi arrived on U.S. soil, bringing a measure of closure after 13 months of work to bring him home.

      Kurpasi, 50, endured challenges early in life, said his friend Don Turner, who served with him in the Marines. Born in South Korea, he was put up for adoption as an infant, and an American family welcomed him into their home. That helped shape Kurpasi’s empathy and devotion, Turner said, leading him to enlist immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

      Reflecting on the loss of his friend and others to the war in Ukraine, Turner said that every U.S. veteran killed in Ukraine “absolutely, 100 percent sacrificed for what we believe in, which is our freedom and democracy. … There is no distinction.”

      Kurpasi served 20 years in the Marines, including in Iraq. His retirement from the military, in November 2021, was short-lived, however. After Russia invaded Ukraine the following February, he joined a unit of international volunteers that fought near the capital, Kyiv, before moving south in April 2022.

      The group, named Team Raven, was tasked with holding an observation post. Kurpasi and a British volunteer left to investigate the source of incoming fire. A German volunteer on the team told The Washington Post last year this is when he last saw Kurpasi alive.

      Kurpasi’s family and Marine Corps comrades turned to volunteers in Ukraine and beyond to help determine his fate, and they pressed the Biden administration to get directly involved.

      The State Department was “absolutely awful,” said George Heath, another friend of Kurpasi’s who assisted with the recovery effort. “I expected nothing less from them after the botched Afghan withdrawal. It was probably beneficial in a way their incompetence wasn’t involved with getting Grady home,” he said.

      The family instead relied on outside groups and the R.T. Weatherman Foundation to coordinate search efforts with the Ukrainian government and volunteers on the ground. That effort led to a collection of trees in the fields near Oleksandrivka, west of Kherson, said Andrew Duncan, the group’s co-founder. Kurpasi’s skeletal remains were identified last month, along with his boots, backpack and other gear, some of which will be used in exhibits for a Ukrainian museum honoring foreign fighters, he said. A band of grain plucked from the site was delivered to Kurpasi’s daughter.

      The State Department said U.S. officials “worked closely with Ukrainian authorities as they carried out their search efforts” and sought to be transparent with Kurpasi’s family.

      Heath, who was on hand to receive Kurpasi’s remains in New York, said his repatriation is a “bittersweet” ending for an effort that brought together passionate volunteers, some of whom never met Kurpasi but were driven to find him because of his character.

      Heath already has the names of other Marines killed in Afghanistan tattooed on his skin . He intends a similar tribute for Kurpasi. “Grady would sign off his emails, ‘What shores know not our blood,’” he said. “I plan on getting that on my arm.”

      ‘To the wind’
      Memorial Day hits “much harder this year, for obvious reasons,” said Alex Potter, whose husband, Pete Reed, was working as a humanitarian medic in Ukraine when, on Feb. 2, his ambulance was hit by a suspected Russian missile.

      Potter met Reed, a Marine Corps veteran, in Iraq in 2016 while she was there as a journalist and he was doing humanitarian work. While Reed was no longer serving in uniform, she said, he was killed saving lives “in service to humanity.”

      Reed, 33, died while working as country director for Global Outreach Doctors, a nonprofit that sent teams of medical personnel to assist people affected by conflict and famine. After deploying to Afghanistan twice as an infantryman, his humanitarian work also took him to Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Poland.

      “He was always willing to help everyone and anyone,” Potter said, noting that Reed’s team had treated some wounded Russians in Ukraine. “His core values were compassion and kindness and helping out people who needed it, no matter their circumstances. I think that’s a value that we as a nation should always strive towards.”

      Reed struggled at times with the loss of friends killed while serving in the U.S. military, Potter said. One death that seemed particularly disheartening was that of Andrew Carpenter, 27, who was shot on a patrol in Afghanistan on Feb. 14, 2011, and died days later at a U.S. military hospital in Germany. Potter and Reed, generally warm and supportive, never did much to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a result, she said.

      Eight or nine years later, while the couple was on a road trip, Potter dropped off Reed at Polk Memorial Gardens in Tennessee, where Carpenter had been laid to rest. Reed spent hours there with a book and a lawn chair, a day after visiting Carpenter’s wife and their son, who had not yet been born when Carpenter died.

      Potter, who lives in Anchorage, recalled the memory while reflecting on her own grieving process. The hardest moments now, she said, are shortly after friends visit and she is again alone in an empty house.

      Potter laughed recalling how she found a “bucket list” of things that Reed wanted to accomplish before dying. One of them was to make a name for himself, and there have since been more than a dozen memorial services of various kinds in his honor. Seeing how many people were affected by him has been striking, she said, and likely would have taken him aback.

      Potter is still close with Reed’s family, and they are planning to spread his ashes in June in rural Beckett, Mass., where Reed found meaning at a day camp he attended as a child.

      “We’re just going to gather some friends and family,” she said, “and toss Pete to the wind.”

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/29/memorial-day-americans-killed-ukraine-russia-war/

      ===============================

      MAY 28 2023 – WaPo – The key to victory in Ukraine? Taking the long view.

      In addition to weapons, tactics and fighting spirit, time is the key variable that will determine the outcome of Moscow’s pitiless war in Ukraine.

      Russian President Vladimir Putin, convinced that Russia can out-suffer its adversaries and sustain a grinding war of attrition in Ukraine for months or years, is confident he can wear down public support among Kyiv’s backers in the United States and Europe. In Washington and other Western capitals, leaders are now taking long-delayed steps to turn the strategic tables on Moscow’s tyrant. Here’s hoping it’s not too late.

      In the lead-up to last weekend’s Group of Seven summit of leading industrialized nations, in Hiroshima, Japan, President Biden and some of his partners announced they would supply Ukraine with major new weapons systems and packages, intended to augment Kyiv’s growing military muscle. At least as important as the hardware was the goal to convince Mr. Putin that he is wrong to think time is on his side.

      Among major recent Western moves to boost Ukraine’s military, three were critical. One was Mr. Biden’s sharp reversal in allowing Ukrainian pilots to be trained on F-16 fighter jets, and to permit other countries to prepare to send those planes to Ukraine. A second was Germany’s announcement of a $3 billion package of weapons, including 30 Leopard battle tanks, 20 infantry fighting vehicles, 18 self-propelled howitzers, four Iris-T air-defense missile systems and 200 reconnaissance drones, in addition to artillery munition. The third was Britain’s decision to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.

      The central importance of those steps is that they are not short-term commitments. The F-16s, which, in addition to extensive training, require major logistics and maintenance components, would be ready for use in Ukraine — where they would negate Moscow’s hopes of gaining air superiority at the end of this year at the earliest. Deliveries of the German arms package are expected to take months as well.

      Britain’s announcement to send Storm Shadow cruise missiles was quietly in the works for months. They enable Ukraine to knock out Russian command centers and other targets at least 155 miles away — three times the range of the U.S.-made HIMARS that were instrumental in Ukraine’s push to regain territory that Moscow had captured earlier in the war.

      President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders have pleaded for months with Washington to send similar U.S.-made missiles, known as ATACMS, whose range is roughly 200 miles. The White House and Pentagon have demurred, worried Ukraine would use the weapon to attack Moscow’s forces in Russian-occupied Crimea, a supposed red line for the Kremlin.

      Deployment of the U.K.-made missiles has already begun, and London says they have been used successfully. Useful as the Storm Shadows might be, their importance should not be overstated. Just a few dozen are believed to have been delivered so far from Britain’s limited stocks, and, at a cost of nearly $1 million apiece, it’s unclear how many more will be available through and after Ukraine’s counteroffensive this year. The target should be hundreds, to meet Kyiv’s defense needs.

      It would have been useful for Ukraine if these latest commitments had happened earlier, in time for its much-anticipated counteroffensive, thought to be imminent. Still, they are tangible proof that Western leaders are serious when they pledge to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” Mr. Putin should take notice.

      The fighting in Ukraine is unlikely to subside any time soon; in Washington and Europe, officials are laying plans to add muscle to Kyiv’s defense capabilities over the next decade, assuming Russia’s aggressive designs will persist. Mr. Putin has already put Russia’s defense industry on a wartime production footing; he has indicated that he is willing to call up hundreds of thousands or more recruits. Subjugating Ukraine, and erasing its identity, is not just an ideological project for him; he sees it as his legacy. Even if there is a pause or negotiated truce at some future date, no one expects Mr. Putin to abandon that ambition. And, of course, he is rooting for another term for Donald Trump, who has vowed to end the war in Ukraine in a day — possibly by cutting off U.S. military aid.

      That means the burden is on the West to formulate plans for a long-term struggle. Arms supplies, procurement systems and defense budgets will need to reflect that commitment. Kyiv’s forces will need more cruise missiles from its Western allies, more ammunition, more air defense systems, more tanks, more armored vehicles. Ukraine’s fight is for core Western values — the right to join the family of democratic, pluralistic and tolerant nations, no matter how anathema that is to a retrograde dictator bent on conquest.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/28/ukraine-weapons-f16s-storm-shadow-putin/

      • Puts a ‘freedom and democracy’ gloss on bloodlust. He’s just into killing.

        Meaningless life, this is an alternative to suicide. If he said the shahada, he could’ve passed for shaheed. His family would get pensions if he murdered Israelis.

        DEPRAVED: UK Army Teaches Ukrainians How to Make Bombs

    • NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General David van Weel speaks on the NATO-Ukraine innovation dialog

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Crisis, conflict and war – How NATO is preparing to resist

      NATO members are viewing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine with grave concern, especially those on the alliance’s eastern flank. They’re joining forces with German troops right on the Russian border.

      Germany is the leading or “framework nation” in what is called the NATO Battle Group Lithuania.

      With its alliance partners, German forces are serving “on the front line” – right on the Russian border.

      They’re guarding NATO’s northeast flank against any possible incursion and ensuring the Baltic states are supported during times of crisis and, if necessary, conflict.

      In the spring of 2023, Germany’s military is in Rukla and Pabrade, among other places, for maneuvers. There it is practicing with NATO partners from Croatia, the Czechia and the Netherlands to handle a Russian attack on the Baltic states.

      In full agreement with the NATO motto “train as you fight,” practice and training are closely-oriented to a genuine threat.

      The leader of the German contingent, Colonel Wolfgang Schmidt, points out the special historic significance and perceived peril in the Baltic.

      He says, “From historical experience, of course the perception of possible aggression – be it Russian or Belarusian – is far more intense here than in the Federal Republic of Germany.”

      He adds that not everyone has grasped the defense of “all that we stand for – modernity, freedom of opinion and speech and everything we describe as Western values begins here.”

      For a year, Schmidt says, the Ukraine has been fighting far more than their Russian attackers – they’re defending “our freedom,” too.

      This report follows a major exercise called “Griffin Lightning.” A platoon commander with the Dutch Armed Forces emphasizes the importance of maneuvers and cooperation among the multinational forces. First Lieutenant Bent S. says, “We’re taking part in different exercises.

      Last week we were with the Norwegians. In a few weeks, the whole Battle Group will come together and we’ll train again with the Norwegians, Germans, Czechs and Croats.

      Nobody wants war, but if it really comes to it, we’ll be ready.”

      This documentary provides an exclusive look at NATO maneuvers in Lithuania, which are unfolding closer than ever before to a genuine military threat.

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – US ramps up weapons production ahead of Ukraine counteroffensive

      Russian forces have launched a rare daytime aerial assault on Kyiv. Ukraine’s military said it shot down all the missiles fired at the city, with reports of injuries and fires from falling debris.

      The city’s residents raced for shelter as explosions were heard in Kyiv’s central districts. It’s the latest in a series of attacks on Kyiv and other parts of the country in recent days.

      Officials in western Ukraine say a military facility there was hit.

      At least one person was killed and several injured.

      The increasing bombardment comes amid speculation that a Ukrainian campaign to reclaim occupied territory will begin soon.

      For months Ukraine has been calling for more ammunition, as it struggles to retake land occupied by Russian forces.

      Officials say they need 350,000 shells a month. High in demand is the 155-mm shell. Weighing around 45 kilograms with a range of around 30 kilometers, it’s small enough to travel far distances. But big enough to incur a lot of damage.

      The European Union says it’s on course to provide a million shells this year, drawn from existing stocks and new orders. So far the US has sent 1.5 million rounds.

      And the US Army is ramping up production from 14,000 rounds a month before the war began to 85,000 by 2028.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b126Fhax5C4

      =======================

      Putin is losing control of his ‘warlords’ says Lt. General Ben Hodges

      “Incoherence and hatred between the various leaders on the Russian side guarantees that they will not have a coherent defence.”

      Russia could be ‘cracked open’

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – US ramps up weapons production ahead of Ukraine counteroffensive

      Russian forces have launched a rare daytime aerial assault on Kyiv. Ukraine’s military said it shot down all the missiles fired at the city, with reports of injuries and fires from falling debris.

      The city’s residents raced for shelter as explosions were heard in Kyiv’s central districts. It’s the latest in a series of attacks on Kyiv and other parts of the country in recent days.

      Officials in western Ukraine say a military facility there was hit.

      At least one person was killed and several injured.

      The increasing bombardment comes amid speculation that a Ukrainian campaign to reclaim occupied territory will begin soon.

      For months Ukraine has been calling for more ammunition, as it struggles to retake land occupied by Russian forces.

      Officials say they need 350,000 shells a month. High in demand is the 155-mm shell. Weighing around 45 kilograms with a range of around 30 kilometers, it’s small enough to travel far distances. But big enough to incur a lot of damage.

      The European Union says it’s on course to provide a million shells this year, drawn from existing stocks and new orders. So far the US has sent 1.5 million rounds.

      And the US Army is ramping up production from 14,000 rounds a month before the war began to 85,000 by 2028.

    • Putin is losing control of his ‘warlords’ says Lt. General Ben Hodges

      “Incoherence and hatred between the various leaders on the Russian side guarantees that they will not have a coherent defence.”

      Russia could be ‘cracked open’

    • VOA – Senator Graham Tells VOA in Kyiv: Ukraine Eventually Will Join NATO

      VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze speaks with Senator Lindsey Graham in Kyiv on Friday during a press conference.

      Responding to VOA about whether the U.S. will support Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, Senator Graham said Ukraine will eventually become part of the alliance and a member of the EU but for now, the priority, he said, is for Ukraine to “evict the invader,” from Ukrainian territories. “I told President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy nobody is signed up for an invasion of Russia. The weapons we’re providing are to evict Russia from Ukraine.”

      Meanwhile, Ukraine is prepared to launch its long-expected counteroffensive against Russian forces, according to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov.

      In an interview with the BBC Saturday, Danilov said the counteroffensive is coming very soon, though he refused to give a date for the beginning of the launch. “It would be weird if I were to name dates of the start of that,” he said. “… We have a very responsible task before our country.”

      Danilov confirmed in the interview that the Wagner Group is withdrawing its forces from the war-ravaged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but he acknowledged that Russia’s Wagner mercenaries are “regrouping to another three locations” after what he called their partial withdrawal from Bakhmut.

      Danilov acknowledged that Ukrainian forces control only a “small part of the city” but underscored that “Bakhmut has played a big role in this war,” despite the heavy toll on Ukrainian defenders.

      The British Defense Ministry also confirmed in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine posted on Twitter that “Wagner Group forces have likely started to withdraw from some of their positions around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut.”

    • sky news australia – Australia to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’

      Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia is standing “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine.

      “We’re working very closely with the Ukrainian government; I spoke with my counterpart in the last few weeks about ways in which we can continue that support,” Mr Marles told Sky News Australia.

      Mr Males refused to go into specifics on what Australia will provide to Ukraine, as it is a conversation currently being held with the war-torn nation.

      “Ukraine has provided us with a menu of options if you like … which would make a difference for them,” he said.

      “But they absolutely understand that we are committed to their calls and that we’re going to stand with them shoulder to shoulder for as long as it takes so that they can resolve this conflict on their terms.”

    • US rep Jerry Nadler doesn’t care if WW3 starts

      “I Wouldn’t Care if Ukraine Invaded Russia!”

    • the guardian – Suspected Russia-trained spy whale reappears off Sweden’s coast

      Beluga whale was first spotted in Norway wearing a harness marked ‘Equipment St Petersburg’ in 2019

      Suspected Russia-trained spy whale reappears off Sweden’s coast
      Beluga whale was first spotted in Norway wearing a harness marked ‘Equipment St Petersburg’ in 2019

      AFP in Stockholm
      Mon 29 May 2023 19.02 BST
      A beluga whale that turned up in Norway wearing a harness in 2019, prompting speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy, has reappeared off Sweden’s coast.

      First discovered in Norway’s far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and move on to Sweden.

      On Sunday, he was observed in Hunnebostrand, off Sweden’s south-western coast.

      “We don’t know why he has sped up so fast right now,” said Sebastian Strand, a marine biologist with the OneWhale organisation, adding that it was particularly puzzling because the whale was moving “very quickly away from his natural environment”.

      “It could be hormones driving him to find a mate. Or it could be loneliness, as belugas are a very social species – it could be that he’s searching for other beluga whales.”

      Strand said the whale, believed to be 13-14 years old, is “at an age where his hormones are very high”.

      The closest population of belugas is located in the Svalbard archipelago, which lies midway between the northern coast of Norway and the north pole.

      The whale is not believed to have seen a single other beluga since arriving in Norway in April 2019.

      Norwegians nicknamed him Hvaldimir – a pun on whale in Norwegian, hval, and a nod to its alleged association with Russia.

      When the whale first appeared in the Norwegian Arctic, marine biologists from the Norwegian directorate of fisheries removed a human-made harness from him.

      The harness had a mount suited for an action camera and the words Equipment St Petersburg printed on the plastic clasps.

      Directorate officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure, and may have been trained by the Russian navy, as he appeared to be accustomed to humans.

      Moscow never issued any official reaction to Norwegian speculation he could be a “Russian spy”.

      The Barents Sea is a strategic geopolitical area where western and Russian submarine movements are monitored.

      It is also the gateway to the Northern Sea Route, which shortens maritime journeys between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

      Strand said the whale’s health “seemed to be very good” in recent years, and it had been foraging wild fish under Norway’s salmon farms.

      But his organisation was concerned about Hvaldimir’s ability to find food in Sweden, and has already observed some weight loss.

      Beluga whales, which can reach a size of about six metres (20ft) and live to between 40 and 60 years, generally inhabit the icy waters around Greenland, northern Norway and Russia.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/29/suspected-russia-trained-spy-whale-reappears-off-swedens-coast

      =========================
      TASS – War between NATO, Russia possible, Czech General Staff head says

      “We view war between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance as the worst-case scenario, but it is not impossible,” General Karel Rehka said

      PRAGUE, May 29. /TASS/. War between NATO and Russia is the worst of all possible worlds, but it is not impossible, says General Karel Rehka, Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces.

      “We view war between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance as the worst-case scenario, but it is not impossible. [It is] possible,” Rehka said at a conference in the Czech parliament Monday, according to the novinky.cz website.

      According to Rehka, the Czech Armed Forces are trying to prepare for a potential violent conflict with a highly technologically developed adversary – Russia – because “Russia is currently on a course towards a conflict with the [North Atlantic] Alliance.”

      The republic’s obligations before NATO would require it to actively participate in a standoff with a potential enemy, the General said.

      He said that given the situation in Ukraine, the country’s national security needed to be reinforced, paying special attention to promptly overcoming reliance on Russian energy supplies. He also warned the conference’s participants about the threat of becoming too dependent on China in the area of telecommunications.

      https://tass.com/world/1624731

      ====================
      europravda – Russia launches more missiles over Kyiv as Moscow moves troops to Bakhmut

    • the epoch times – Not Just Target: Walmart’s ESG Efforts Focus on Catering to LGBT Agenda

      ESG guidelines reward retailers for not just selling LGBT merchandise but buying from such suppliers

      Similar to Target, Walmart’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report reveals that the company makes special provisions for LGBT groups, including specifically sourcing supplies from people professing such identities.

      Target has been the focus of boycott calls due to offering Pride products this year aimed at children. Target’s 2022 ESG report (pdf) shows that at least 51 percent of its suppliers are “owned, controlled and operated by women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, veterans or people with disabilities.”
      ———————————————————
      https://corporate.target.com/_media/TargetCorp/Sustainability-ESG/PDF/2022_Target_ESG_Report.pdf
      ————————————————————
      In addition, 59 percent of their Pride Month assortment was created by LGBT creators and brands.

      Walmart has also been shown to conduct an “inclusive sourcing” program for LGBT groups. Walmart’s supplier inclusion initiative offers companies, owned and operated by members of LGBT and other identities like ethnic and racial minorities, “the opportunity to work with us while growing their business,” according to Walmart’s July 2022 ESG report. “For our U.S. businesses, we sourced more than $13.3 billion in goods and services from approximately 2,600 diverse suppliers.”

      ESG principles make companies look beyond making profits and focus on taking actions related to issues like climate change, racism, and sexual identity, among others. It is adopted by companies mainly to appease large investors like BlackRock that use these metrics to evaluate whether to invest or not. ESG investing has been receiving blowback in recent times from conservative-led states.

      Walmart received a full 100 points on The Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). To get a perfect CEI score, an organization has to donate to LGBT causes as well as refuse to donate to non-religious organizations that oppose such causes. The organization MUST ALSO SUPPORT GENDER TRANSITIONING.

      It scored 30/30 for Workforce Protections, including “sexual orientation for all operations” and “gender identity or expression for all operations.” Walmart scored 30/30 for Inclusive Benefits, which includes “equal health coverage for transgender individuals without exclusion for medically necessary care.”

      The company scored 40/40 for supporting an “inclusive culture.” The score was the result of Walmart meeting two CEI criteria on LGBT—that three LGBT internal training and education best practices as well as three efforts of outreach to the broader LGBT community be implemented.

      In 2021, Walmart donated $500,000 to PFLAG, the largest organization in the United States that advocates for LGBT and their families.

      LGBT Offerings By Target and Walmart

      The controversy surrounding Target originated with the Pride merchandise they offered this year. The company had rolled out more than 2,000 products, including books, clothing, calendars, and home furnishings at the beginning of the month.

      Some of the items were targeted at children. For example, books for kids aged 2–8 had titles like “Pride 1,2,3,” “Bye Bye, Binary,” and “I’m Not a Girl.” Target also suggested “The Pronoun Book” to kids aged 0–3. In home décor, Target offered mugs labeled “Gender Fluid.” It also offered transgender-designed swimsuits for adults with a “tuck-friendly” feature.

      Similarly, Walmart is also offering Pride products. A controversial product being offered by the company is a “breathable” chest binder aimed at “trans, lesbian, and tomboys.” The binder, offered online, features pictures of a young girl modeling the product.

      Walmart Pride products have started to attract criticism online. “We’ve backed #Target into a corner for selling #Pride merch in the children’s section. Now we go for #Walmart. These woke companies need to know that enough is enough. Not ONE MORE [expletive] DAY. They’re NOT GETTING our kids,” journalist Breck Worsham said in a May 24 tweet.

      The Epoch Times has reached out to Walmart for comment.

      The Boycott Trend

      Target and Walmart are the latest in a series of brands that have faced boycott calls in recent times for pushing the transgender agenda.

      The largest corporate boycott trend began after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a promotional video for beer brand Bud Light on April 1. The move triggered a widespread backlash online from multiple conservative influencers. Since April 1, the market value of Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, has fallen by $15.7 billion.

      Earlier this month, women’s clothing brand Anthropologie uploaded a video on Instagram featuring a male model dressed up in female clothing. The incident triggered many women to post online that they intend to not shop from the brand.

      Though calls for boycotting Target have strengthened, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) believes that this would be a difficult thing to do.

      “What really came to bite Bud Light is that [it] wasn’t a hard boycott,” Cruz said recently during an episode of his podcast. “It’s difficult for nobody on planet Earth if you were going to order a Bud Light to say, ‘I’ll have a Coors Light.’ That’s a very simple substitution.”

      “Target? We’ll see how prolonged and easy a substitution it is. There’s Walmart. You know, there are alternatives,” he said. “I will say Targets are located in a lot of areas and very convenient for a lot of shoppers. So we’ll see if this becomes a persistent consequence or not,” he added while pointing out that conservatives have usually not been very good at boycotts.

      https://www.theepochtimes.com/not-just-target-walmarts-esg-efforts-focus-on-catering-to-lgbt-agenda_5298050.html

    • BREITBART – Rap Anthem ‘Boycott Target’ Surges to No. 2 on iTunes After Retailer Pushed Gay, Transgender Apparel for Children

      The new rap single “Boycott Target” surged to the No. 2 spot on iTunes’ hip-hop chart on Monday, just days after being released in the wake of the controversy over the retailer’s decision to push gay and transgender -themed apparel for children.

      “Boycott Target” — from rappers Forgiato Blow and Jimmy Levy — was released Thursday and has become a runaway hit on multiple platforms. A music video for the song tweeted by Forgiato Blow has accumulated more than 4.2 million views after Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green (R-GA) encouraged people to check it out.

      https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1662120869353734144

      more :

      https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2023/05/29/rap-anthem-boycott-target-surges-to-no-2-on-itunes-after-retailer-pushed-gay-transgender-apparel-for-children/

      ==============================
      LEGO launches new LGBTQI+ exhibit at Denmark HQ featuring bricks for trans families

      Famed children’s toymaker LEGO has launched a new LGBTQI+ museum display that has been dubbed the “A to Z of Awesome” at the brand’s flagship museum in Billund, Denmark.

      Just days ago on May 24th, LEGO House opened the doors to the museum collection to the public ahead of the official start of Pride month. The new display features dozens of building sets that offer children an “inclusive” and “diverse” environment to interact with gender identity and LGBT-related building sets.

      more :

      https://humanevents.com/2023/05/29/lego-launches-new-lgbtqi-exhibit-at-denmark-hq-featuring-bricks-for-trans-families

  25. (Richard: This attack has all of the signs of a Left Wing false flag trying to draw attention away from Hunter and Joe )

    Charges Dropped Against Sai Kandula – The East Asian Migrant Terrorist with Nazi Flag Who Tried to Ram White House and Take Over the Country
    By Jim Hoft May. 29, 2023 12:00 pm122 Comments

    Last Monday night, one week ago, a young migrant from Chesterfield, Missouri drove a U-Haul truck and attempted to ram his way through a White House barrier. his plot failed and police arrested the young man in shorts. Police investigators then pulled an apparent Nazi flag from a U-Haul truck after the crash near the White House and laid it on the street for photographers. It was a white supremacist attack!

    As Kristinn Taylor reported — Eyewitnesses say the truck was driven twice into a barrier before stopping. The incident took place at the north side of Lafayette Park at 16th and H St, NW. Police laid out the flag on the sidewalk near the truck, apparently for the media to film, before folding it up and taking it away.

    Internet users immediately were suspect. The only thing they found in the truck was a Nazi flag? This was too convenient for Joe Biden and the FBI’s narrative of the dreaded white supremacist threat in America. It smelled like another fed operation.

    Sai Varshith Kandula – a 19-year-old man from Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb west of St. Louis was the terrorist.

    U.S. Park Police say Sai Varshith Kandula of Chesterfield, Missouri, was taken into custody at the scene. Kandula faces multiple charges including assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, the threat to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm on a President, Vice President, or family, destruction of federal property, and trespassing.

    Officials released his name Tuesday. No one was injured in the crash.

    Sai Kandula graduated from Marquette High School in West St. Louis. He has a limited internet profile.

    And Sai is NOT a US citizen.

    On Friday DC prosecutors dropped all of the serious charges against Sai Kandula who said he was attempting to overthrow the White House.

    These are the same prosecutors who are sending Trump supporters to prison for several years for touching a metal sign Ray Epps was hurling at police.

    BizPac Review reported:

    Something extraordinary happened — prosecutors dropped every single charge, leaving Kandula with nothing but “a single count of depredation of property of the United States in excess of $1,000,” the Post notes.

    Critics want to know why.

    “I don’t want to sound paranoid, but that seems like they’re trying to hush this up,” Mark Hemingway, the husband of conservative commentator Mollie Hemingway, tweeted.

    So, why does the foreigner with the Nazi flag get a pass for ramming an entrance to the White House?

    And why are these prosecutors jailing Trump supporters for walking inside the US Capitol after they were waved in?

    Maybe the Asian did not fit their political narrative.

    These officials are corrupt and irredeemable.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/charges-dropped-against-sai-kandula-east-asian-migrant/

  26. 5./ I was just wondering when the “Call-me-Loretta” seen was going to come under fire from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” fil. So now they’re going cut it. What then?

    Are they going to put it in a box?

  28. europravda – NATO condemns clashes in Kosovo, 25 KFOR troops injured, 3 critical

    Serbia also slammed NATO-led peacekeepers stationed in neighbouring Kosovo for their alleged failure to stop “brutal actions” by Kosovo police against ethnic Serbs.

  29. Blood in the Balkans: Albanian Kosovo Police Invades Serbian-Controlled Municipalities to Depose Elected Mayors – Serbian Citizens React Violently – NATO Peacekeepers Clash With Protesters
    By Paul Serran May. 29, 2023 1:30 pm99 Comments

    Tensions are flaring again between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo.

    Albanian Kosovo police entered Serb majority towns in the north of the separatist region, broke through the barricades erected by the Serb population, and after fierce clashes with citizens, occupied the mayor office in the towns, preparing to replace the duly elected Serbian mayors with Albanian-backed ones.

    As the Serb population converged upon these places, KFOR peacekeepers from NATO have created a buffer zone in these places, protecting the Kosovo police in the invaded buildings.

    On Friday (May 28th), Albanian armored vehicles were sighted in Kosovska Mitrovica, Leposavi?, and Zubin Potok, forming convoys.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/blood-balkans-albanian-kosovo-police-invades-serbian-controlled/

  30. What is She Doing Here?” Dianne Feinstein Confused Over Kamala Harris Presiding Over Senate
    By Cristina Laila May. 29, 2023 1:04 pm171 Comments

    The Democrats will do ANYTHING for power.

    89-year-old Dianne Feinstein earlier this month returned to the senate in a wheelchair.

    Feinstein finally returned to the senate after a 3-month absence due to shingles.

    The California Senator’s diminished condition shocked the public.

    Her red droopy eye and paralyzed face shocked the public.

    Feinstein is suffering from several complications due to shingles (supposedly), including facial paralysis, memory loss, vision and balance impairments and swelling of the brain.

    According to a new report by The New York Times, Feinstein relies on an army of aides in order to carry out her duties.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/what-is-she-doing-here-dianne-feinstein-confused/

      • People with autoimmune disorders can get a medical exemption because risk of shingles is so high for this cohort. With and without previous episodes, irrespective of shingles vax.

        (Too bad they didn’t make it known till a year or two after the fact.)

  34. Trump Posts Memorial Day Message Honoring Those Who Gave the Ultimate Sacrifice
    By Cassandra MacDonald May. 29, 2023 5:00 pm13 Comments

    Former President Donald Trump posted a Memorial Day message on Monday honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
    The message was posted to his social media platform, Truth Social.

    The leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination posted, in all caps:

    “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, BUT ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO GAVE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THE COUNTRY THEY LOVE, AND TO THOSE IN LINE OF A VERY DIFFERENT, BUT EQUALLY DANGEROUS FIRE, STOPPING THE THREATS OF THE TERRORISTS, MISFITS AND LUNATIC THUGS WHO ARE WORKING FEVERISHLY FROM WITHIN TO OVERTURN AND DESTROY OUR ONCE GREAT COUNTRY, WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN IN GREATER PERIL THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW. WE MUST STOP THE COMMUNISTS, MARXISTS AND FASCIST ‘PIGS’ AT EVERY TURN AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/trump-posts-memorial-day-message-honoring-those-who/

  35. Jane Fonda Blames White Men For Climate Crisis, Calls For Them to be Arrested and Jailed
    By Cristina Laila May. 29, 2023 2:55 pm574 Comments

    Jane Fonda; stock photo

    ‘Hanoi’ Jane Fonda said white men are to blame for the climate crisis and called for them to be jailed.

    Jane Fonda made the remarks at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

    She traveled all the way to Cannes, France to lecture people on climate change.

    “This is serious,” Fonda said Saturday in Cannes, according to Fox News. “We’ve got about seven, eight years to cut ourselves in half of what we use of fossil fuels, and unfortunately, the people that have the least responsibility for it are hit the hardest — Global South, people on islands, poor people of color. It is a tragedy that we have to absolutely stop. We have to arrest and jail those men — they’re all men [behind this].”

    Jane Fonda earlier this year said the climate change crisis is due to racism and evil white men.

    WATCH:

    In 1972 “Hanoi” Jane Fonda applauded an NVA anti-aircraft gun crew during her trip to North Vietnam. These guns were used to shoot down American planes and contributed to the deaths of American Airmen.

    Jane Fonda once said, “If you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would some day become communist.”

    Jane Fonda

    Jane Fonda recently said pro-life activists and politicians should be murdered for their beliefs on abortion during an appearance on ABC’s “The View.”

    “Besides marching and protesting, what else do you suggest?” Joy Behar queried.

    “MURDER.” – Jane Fonda said.

    “What did you say?” Tomlin asked.

    “MURDER!” Fonda replied.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/jane-fonda-blames-white-men-climate-crisis-calls/