Daily Archives: 8. Juni 2023


08.06.2023 - 06:48 [ theGuardian.com ]

Nato members may send troops to Ukraine, warns former alliance chief

Rasmussen said: “If Nato cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action. We know that Poland is very engaged in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine. And I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground.

“I think the Poles would seriously consider going in and assemble a coalition of the willing if Ukraine doesn’t get anything in Vilnius.

08.06.2023 - 03:37 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Bundesregierung erklärt Zahlungen an Journalisten von ARD, ZDF und Deutsche Welle zur geheimen „Verschlusssache“

Anfang März 2023 war zunächst bekannt geworden, dass die Bundesregierung in den letzten Jahren rund 1,5 Millionen Euro an circa 200 Journalisten, mehrheitlich bei ARD und ZDF beschäftigt, für diverse Aufträge wie beispielsweise „Moderation“ oder „Konzepterstellung“ gezahlt hatte. Kanzleramt und Ministerien räumten zwar die Zahlungen ein, hielten aber bisher die Namen der Journalisten mit Verweis auf „Datenschutz“ anonymisiert. Diese Namen liegen jetzt den NachDenkSeiten vor.

08.06.2023 - 03:02 [ Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft ]

Defense Contractor Funded Think Tanks Dominate Ukraine Debate

Few Americans know what a think tank is or does, although they play a pivotal role in the U.S. political process.2 Think tanks operate as something of a conduit between academia and the policymaking community, conducting research and opining on pressing policy issues, including everything from healthcare to climate change to U.S. foreign policy. Think tanks also work directly with policymakers in the executive branch and Congress. Their experts regularly testify before Congress and go on to serve in key positions in the executive branch. Former government officials in turn often go on to work for think tanks, earning them the nickname of “holding tank” where former government officials await a change in party affiliation of Congress or the Presidency.

Of most direct relevance to this brief is the fact that think tanks are a go–to source for media outlets seeking opinions on pressing policy issues. Think tank experts provide the comments and articles you read in prominent national media outlets . They’re the voices you hear providing commentary on NPR, podcasts, and even local radio stations. They’re the faces you see on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC opining on the most pressing U.S. policy issues of the day. In short, think tanks are a key component of public debates about U.S. politics and policy.

08.06.2023 - 02:50 [ Moon of Alabama ]

Nova Kakhova Dam Breach – Updated (12:15 UTC)

(06.06.2023)

In consequence the huge reservoir behind the dam is now flooding lower level land south of Kherson (Xepcoh). The pictures show the before and after of potential flooding due to the breach:

Previously the Russian army had pulled back its troops from the northern part of Kherson oblast because a dam breach would endanger their supply route.

We do not know yet how much of the dam has been damaged. How much water will be flowing out of it depends on the part of the wall that is still standing below the current water level.

Of note is that the Ukraine had previously filled the upstream dams on the Dnieper to the brim to increase the potential damage. Those waters were released in early May.

08.06.2023 - 02:35 [ @200_zoka / Nitter ]

Water level in Kakhovka reservoir in Zaporozhye region risen by 17 m and almost reached critical level. Under threat of destruction of dam in Kamenka Dneprovskaya, dozens of villages may be flooded. Kyiv opened the floodgates in Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye.

(May 4 2023)

Dam in Nova Kahovka cannot be opened due to damage and front line. So likely that it will burst in some moment and flood a good part of Herson

08.06.2023 - 02:34 [ MoscowTimes.com ]

Explainer: Could Ukraine’s Kakhovka Dam Be Destroyed in Russia’s Kherson Retreat?

(Nov. 30, 2022)

Russian state media reported Sunday that the dam had been damaged in a Ukrainian strike using U.S.-supplied HIMARS missiles, but the claim could not be independently verified.

08.06.2023 - 02:11 [ Washington Post ]

Inside the Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Putin and reshaped the war

(December 29, 2022)

Kovalchuk considered flooding the river. The Ukrainians, he said, even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages.

The test was a success, Kovalchuk said, but the step remained a last resort. He held off.

08.06.2023 - 02:04 [ Dagny Taggart / Nitter ]

What was done? — Maria Zakharova published a document dated October 21, 2022, when Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, sent a letter to the UN Secretary General about the plans of the Kiev regime to destroy the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.

(06.06.2023)

08.06.2023 - 01:27 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(26.4.2018)

As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.

After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.

08.06.2023 - 01:10 [ Watson Institute / Brown University ]

HOW DEATH OUTLIVES WAR – The Reverberating Impact of the Post-9/11 Wars on Human Health

(May 15, 2023)

The total death toll in the post-9/11 war zones of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen could be at least 4.5-4.6 million and counting, though the precise mortality figure remains unknown. Some of these people were killed in the fighting, but far more, especially children, have been killed by the reverberating effects of war, such as the spread of disease. These latter indirect deaths – estimated at 3.6-3.7 million – and related health problems have resulted from the post-9/11 wars’ destruction of economies, public services, and the environment. Indirect deaths grow in scale over time.

08.06.2023 - 01:00 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Urteil wegen „Billigung des russischen Angriffskriegs“: Vorsicht – eine falsche Meinung kann jetzt kriminell sein

Das Kölner Amtsgericht hat eine 48 Jahre alte Frau wegen „Billigung des russischen Angriffskriegs auf die Ukraine“ schuldig gesprochen, wie Medien berichten. Die Richterin verurteilte die Frau am Dienstag zu einer Geldstrafe von 30 Tagessätzen zu je 30 Euro. Nach Überzeugung des Gerichts hatte die Ukrainerin am 8. Mai 2022 „bei einer pro-russischen Demonstration“ in Köln den Krieg „für andere wahrnehmbar gutgeheißen und befürwortet“, wie es in der Urteilsbegründung hieß.

Laut Medienberichten hatte die Frau in einem Fernseh-Interview, das in der Verhandlung in Augenschein genommen wurde, gesagt: „Russland ist kein Aggressor“. Zudem habe sie gesagt, das Vorgehen Russlands sei „alternativlos“. Das Gericht war überzeugt, dass die Äußerungen der Frau geeignet seien, „den öffentlichen Frieden zu stören“.

08.06.2023 - 00:45 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Wer solche Künstler hat, braucht keine Mitläufer mehr

Man hätte diese Liste der „braven“ Künstler laut dem Artikel noch erheblich verlängern können: Unter dem Stichwort #impfenschuetzt hatten einige Veranstalter und Künstler dafür geworben, sich impfen zu lassen – mit dabei waren Bands wie Die Toten Hosen, Beatsteaks, Tocotronic, Element of Crime, Isolation Berlin und Silbermond, die mit der Beteiligung an der Kampagne auch die durch die Corona-Politik und die aggressive Impfkampagne hervorgerufenen gesellschaftlichen Verwerfungen indirekt gerechtfertigt haben.

Auch die Band Die Ärzte gliederte sich auf ihrer Webseite voll in die dominante offizielle Darstellung ein: In einer Band-Mitteilung sollte wohl eine Schockwirkung mit Formulierungen wie „qualvollem Ersticken“ erzielt werden, die „Zukunft der Kultur“ wurde vom Impf-Fortschritt abhängig gemacht, ebenso war das Impfen laut „Die Ärzte“ (ganz Regierungslinie) Voraussetzung für „normale Bedingungen“ und dafür, dass „das Leben weitergeht“.