Stone incorporated violent extremist groups into the “Stop the Steal” effort, which was itself a product of his warped political mind writes columnist Jennifer Cohn in the first of a three-part series.
— Read on buckscountybeacon.com/2023/01/roger-stone-deserves-more-scrutiny-for-his-role-in-the-events-leading-to-january-6/
Category: Ukraine
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Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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Saturday 28 January 2023
Afternoon News Notes:
Tyree Nichols
- The police officers belonged to a special unit (Scorpion). So, why were they making a traffic stop?
- Memphis local newspaper reporter:
- Organized by the new police chief Davis, to deal with violent crimes, reckless driving, car thefts. for “hot spot” policing method. Reporter says they were “overpolicing” Tyre Nichols. Currently the unit is inactive.
- Tim Alexander, Civil Rights Attorney, on MSNBC, notes that a team like the scorpion team needs “intense supervision.” There didn’t appear to be any supervision on the scene. If I were the chief I would disband the team. There are newer approaches.
- DOJ has opened a civil rights case against the police officers, according to Joyce Vance.
- According to MSNBC reporting, the George Floyd Police Reform act curbs qualified immunity for officers, federal bans chokeholds, bans n0-knock warrants in federal drug cases, outlaws racial profiling, ensures use of body dashboard cams, creates a national registry of police misconduct.
- The bill itself was sponsored by Karen Bass.
- Charles Blow’s opinion piece in the New York Times is an essential read for today.
- Blow: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/opinion/tyre-nichols-video.html
- George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1280
- The bill enhances existing enforcement mechanisms to remedy violations by law enforcement. Among other things, it does the following:
- lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution,
- limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer, and
- grants administrative subpoena power to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in pattern-or-practice investigations.
- Wikipedia on Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_Justice_in_Policing_Act
- The bill was drafted by Democrats Karen Bass and Jerry Nadler. The bill passed in the house on a party-line vote 220-212.
- Opposition in the Senate by Republicans stopped the bill.
- Republicans, like Tim Scott, objected to any legislation that would restrict the qualified-immunity doctrine.
- Republicans also objected to banning chokeholds or federal restrictions on police use of deadly force.
- Republicans also objected to restricting no-knock raids.
- A second bill was introduced and sponsored by all Democrats. It was opposed by all Republicans.
Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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Monday Morning News Notes
January 23, 2023Telegraph
Germany appeared poised to back down in the row over sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine on Monday, signalling its willingness to let Nato allies re-export their own
Estonia said it would expel the Russian ambassador from Tallinn in retaliation for Moscow’s expulsion of the Estonian ambassador.
Tensions between Russia and its European neighbours have spiked since Moscow invaded Ukraine last year.Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement issued on Monday it downgraded its diplomatic relations with Estonia, accusing the Baltic country of “total Russophobia.”
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said that conflict between Moscow and the West could no longer be defined as a “hybrid war”, but was closer to a real one, as he blasted the West for sending billions of dollars of arms to Kyiv. (Note:see nyt podcast where host implies the allies are escalating the war by sending increasingly powerful weapons.)
Moscow-backed officials say they visited destroyed Soledar
A Russian proxy official in east Ukraine claims to have visited Soledar, the destroyed town in the Donetsk region of Ukraine that Moscow said it captured this month.Russia has suffered 180,000 casualties in Ukraine, Norwegian army says
Russia has suffered 180,000 killed or wounded in Ukraine so far, while the figure for the Ukrainians is 100,000 military casualties and 30,000 dead civilians, according to estimates by Norway’s army.Kremlin shrugs off US sanctions on Wagner
The Kremlin has dismissed the significance of US sanctions on the Wagner mercenary group, saying they would have no practical effect.Kremlin says Ukrainians will suffer if Europe sends tanks
The Kremlin said on Monday that the Ukrainian people would suffer if the West sent tanks to support Kyiv, as the question of whether German-made Leopard tanks will be transferred to Ukraine remained unresolved.
The United States and its allies failed during talks last week in Germany to convince Berlin to provide its Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, a key demand from Kyiv as it tries to breath new momentum into its fight against Russian forces.Lavrov visits ally South Africa amid Western rivalry
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in South Africa on Monday for talks with one of its most important allies on a continent that is divided over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related Western attempts to isolate it.‘A global catastrophe’
A close ally of President Vladimir Putin said that deliveries of offensive weapons to Kyiv that threaten Russia’s territories would lead to a “global catastrophe” and make arguments against using weapons of mass destruction untenable.
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, warned that the United States and Nato’s support of Ukraine was leading the world to a “terrible war”.
“Given the technological superiority of Russian weapons, foreign politicians making such decisions need to understand that this could end in a global tragedy that will destroy their countries,” he wrote on Telegram.Russian Wagner boss acknowledges comparison with Rasputin
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary boss, responded to comparisons between himself and the monk Rasputin who treated the son of the last tsar for haemophilia, saying on Sunday his job was not to staunch bleeding but to spill the blood of Russia’s enemies.
The Financial Times newspaper said at the weekend that Prigozhin had growing influence on the Kremlin and likened him to Orthodox monk Grigory Rasputin, who had considerable influence on the wife of Russia’s last tsar, Nikolai II.
Mr Prigozhin acknowledged only last September that he had founded the Wagner group, which has played a major role in the Russian military’s attempts to capture territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
“I am not very familiar with the history of Rasputin, but as far as I know, an important quality of Rasputin is that he staunched the blood flow of the young prince with incantations,” Mr Prigozhin’s press service quoted him as saying, referring to the article.
“Unfortunately, I do not staunch blood flow. I bleed the enemies of our motherland. And not by incantations, but by direct contact with them.”Russia ordered white supremacists to letter bomb European politicians, US believes
Russia ordered white supremacists to post letter bombs to Nato targets in Europe last year, the US believes.
US intelligence officials think that a group called the Russian Imperial Movement, which has military-style training centres in St Petersburg, wanted to scare Ukraine’s allies.Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2023
Morning News Notes:
MSNBC
Republican Inspired Violence
There is yet another mass shooting at a ballroom dance location in California. The area is largely Asian. There are 10 people dead.
The Wagner Group
The U.S. has designated the Wagner Group as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and will impose further sanctions against enablers. (Note: I am waiting for them to designate Trump, et. al. as a significant transnational criminal organization.)
The Wagner group is known for committing widespread human rights violations. Ali Velshi, MSNBC, says they have a “reputation for being inhumane,” according to the UN. It is interesting that Velshi chooses to include the word “reputation” rather than claiming that Wagner commits inhumane acts. (Note: I don’t know if the “reputation” is from the UN or from Velshi).
Russia is estimated to have mobilized 200,000 – 250,000 troops for the war against Ukraine. They are thought to have lost 100,000 of those troops. The Wagner Group is estimated to currently have 50,000 troops. (Note: I think this means 50,000 in Ukraine, but I am not sure.) Only about a quarter of these troops are trained military, the rest are convicts recruited by Wagner. (Note: In Russia or in other countries?)
The only significant military gains Russia has made in recent months have been made by Wagner troops. The founder and head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has recently used the opportunity to publicly brag about this fact.
Prigozhin’s outspoken bragging and also his praise for Zelensky and Ukrainian forces has led many to speculate just how powerful a “rival power center” Wagner has become in Russia. There is evidently dissatisfaction with him in the Kremlin. Those criticizing Prigozhin include Vladimir Gerasimov, the new head of Russia’s war effort.
Sources:
Misinformation
There are actually countries that educate their citizens against misinformation, countries that have made a conscious effort to train citizens to spot deception and lies in the media. We, however, are a country that not only ignores misinformation, but in some cases (like Florida) actively prevents training citizens against it.
One of the Biden administration’s efforts to counter disinformation about Russia and migrant smugglers was met with Republican opposition, claiming Biden was trying to set up a “ministry of truth.” The board was (within weeks) dissolved. (Note: That tells you all you need to know. Republicans view countering disinformation as an Orwellian “Truth Commission.” Democrats fold at the slightest opposition.)
The five nations which have been most successful in promoting resilience against misinformation are: Finland (for the fifth year), Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Ireland.
Teachers in Finland are required to teach media literacy and critical thinking (MSNBC). According to officials in Finland, the kindergarten teacher is the first line of defense. (Note: Just think about this. The first line of defense. Can you imagine the Republican outcry if anyone said that in this country.)
Classrooms in Finland are teaching elementary skills like reading skills. Students need to recognize the difference between opinion and fact, for example. Students, according to Finish teachers, should think, why has this been published, what are the motivations of the people quoted?
The Fins also use library programs to reach adults who will not be exposed to these classes in school.
But, as Ali Velshi and the Finnish teachers point out, the entire program rests on a good educational system. (Note: The Republicans and the evangelicals are trying to destroy the pubic school system. They are not content with having a school system that is set up with vast inequality depending on the income of the parents living in the school district.)
Students in Finland put together video projects so they will learn the process of gathering and editing video. After going through this process, it is easier to understand how decisions are made about what to include and what to leave out, what backgrounds surround a particular shot that can either be edited out or included. They also learn about the number of takes involved in producing a particular scene. They are taught to “read the picture.”
(Note: The program, according to the head of a Finnish media organization, depends heavily on trusting the media and trusting the government. This was a rather inconvenient statement, said in the context of promoting critical thinking. It seems the point is not trusting anybody, or not trusting them completely. Perhaps that is what he meant.) (Note: I started to edit out the inconvenient statement.)
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/18/disinformation-board-dhs-nina-jankowicz/
Velshi, MSNBC
Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
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The first and presumably last Briton ever to lead European foreign policy gives us a glimpse of a collaborative approach now sadly lost
— Read on www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/22/and-then-what-by-catherine-ashton-review-colourful-insider-account-of-european-diplomacyThis book review was written by luke harding one of the best.
In Ashton’s memoir of her time as a diplomat, And Then What?, she captures the moment vividly. “In Kyiv I was aware of a particular atmosphere that I had experienced before in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. It was as if the wind had changed direction and you had to brace yourself against it as it whipped your breath away. A sense of excitement, mixed with fear and apprehension… Revolution, freedom, chaos – I could almost taste it.”
Putin, of course, had other ideas. He sent special forces to grab Crimea and kickstarted a bitter war in the east of the country. In February 2022, he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is Europe’s biggest conflict since 1945. The west’s collective failure to confront Russia sooner, including during Ashton’s five-year tenure as EU foreign policy chief, was a strategic mistake – arguably the biggest in what is proving to be a tumultuous and darkly twisting century.
Ashton makes the case for what she calls “deep democracy”. In her visits to refugee camps and to failing states such as Haiti she discovers that luckless citizens “wanted what we have”. That is, an independent press, proper courts and free elections, as well as a flourishing civil society. It is a modest manifesto. And yet, in an age when Putin is seeking to turn the clock back with a blatant neo-imperial land-grab, it is a radical one as well.
Ashton acknowledges the EU – a motley club of 28 nations at the time – made mistakes. Most of her successes unravelled. Egypt reverted to military dictatorship; Libya descended into civil war; and Iran resumed its nuclear activities after President Donald Trump kiboshed Obama’s deal, co-guaranteed by China and Russia. Serbia and Kosovo are once more at loggerheads; the deep-seated issues Ashton tried to fix came back, like so much bad history. Ukraine is a rolling tragedy, the scene of Kremlin mass murder and rapacity.
it’s clear our politics would have turned out better if we had had more Cathy Ashtons and fewer Boris Johnsons, more constructive collaboration and less alpha male showboating
(Note: the world would have turned out better if we had less alpha male showboating.)
Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
-
Wednesday Morning News Notes
New york timesA helicopter crash in the Kyiv suburbs on Wednesday morning left at least 18 people dead, including Ukraine’s minister for internal affairs and his deputy, according to the head of the country’s national police service.
Ukraine’s new push for arms like tanks and air defense missiles began in earnest on Tuesday, when General Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, held his first face-to-face meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, in Poland, nearly 11 months after the Russian invasion.
On Wednesday and Thursday, NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels to take stock of assistance for Ukraine. On Friday, they will be joined at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany by officials from a broader group of nations that have coordinated aid to Ukraine. The U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, will lead those discussions, including the crucial question of whether to send Western tanks.
James Cleverly, Britain’s foreign secretary, defended his country’s decision to provide Ukraine with 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks, which would be the first Western tanks in Ukraine’s forces
The Pentagon is tapping into a vast but little-known stockpile of American ammunition in Israel to help meet Ukraine’s dire need for artillery shells in the war with Russia,
Israel has consistently refused to supply weapons to Ukraine out of fear of damaging relations with Moscow
The Russian military and the Wagner Group, a private mercenary group, contradicted each other publicly about who should get credit for capturing the eastern town. Ukraine’s military, meanwhile, has rejected Russia’s claim of victory, saying its troops are still fighting there.
Israel has imposed a near-total embargo on selling weapons to Ukraine, fearing that Russia might retaliate by using its forces in Syria to limit Israeli airstrikes aimed at Iranian and Hezbollah forces there.
And while other places understand that immigrants, who often work in the service sector and agriculture, two of Florida’s main industries, are vital to replenishing aging populations, Mr. DeSantis and the state G.O.P. are not exactly immigrant-friendly, enacting legislation to limit the ability of people with uncertain legal status to work in the state.
Guardian
Sixteen people including Ukraine’s interior minister and other senior officials were killed when a helicopter crashed outside Kyiv in the town of Brovary, the national police chief said.
Wagner group: Andrey Medvedev, 26, said that in Ukraine he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters accused by their own commanders of disobeying orders, sometimes in pairs.
After fleeing his unit, he crossed the border into Norway near the Pasvikdalen valley shortly before 2am local time last Friday, where he was arrested and detained by border guards.The prisoners are used as cannon fodder, like meat. I was given a group of convicts. In my platoon, only three out of 30 men survived,” he said. “We were then given more prisoners, and many of those died too.”
Medvedev, who grew up in a Siberian orphanage and spent at least four years in prison for robbery, also claimed he knew of at least 10 killings of Wagner soldiers who had disobeyed, and had witnessed some personally.
“The commanders took them to a shooting field and they were shot in front of everyone. Sometimes one guy was shot, sometimes they would be shot in pairs,” he said.
Medvedev described how he grew disaffected with Wagner after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners who were brought to the front by Wagner.
“It shocked us to the core, it was so fucked-up.”
AdvertisementCrime laws
David Coulson was imprisoned in California under draconian ‘tough on crime’ laws stemming from the 1990s. Now campaigners are calling for reform, reports Sam Levin
In California, if a person commits two felonies that are classed as ‘serious’ or ‘violent’, and then goes on to commit a further serious felony, they will be given a life sentence. It’s a law stemming from a tough crackdown on crime in the 1990s when a wave of crime in the state caused public outcry and was used by politicians determined to respond in kind.Sunday News Notes:
Ukraine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/01/putin-ally-challenges-russian-president-calling-zelensky-nice/
- Founder of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, challenges Putin.
- Prigozhin praised Ukrainian president, Zelensky, on his social media platform.
- “Although he is the president of a country that’s hostile to Russia right now, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy,”
- In a second post, Prigozhin followed up with a warning: “Don’t underestimate him.” The second post was described by the Telegraph as “explaining why he was offering such a discordant view of” Zelensky.
- Prigozhin holds no formal role with the Russian government, but his position has increased in importance as he has funneled more and more soldiers into Ukraine fighting for Russia.
- His statement is not in line with the Kremlin presentation of Zelensky as a drug-addled Nazi. And, it is not the first time Prigozhin has challenged Putin. Earlier he questioned the military’s conduct of the war.
- The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin along with Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, has become more vocal in their criticisms of military leaders prosecuting Putin’s war.
- According to the Telegraph: “British lawyers McCue Jury and Partners on Tuesday announced they were bringing legal action against Wagner for “terrorism” in Ukraine, aiming to claim compensation for victims of the mercenary group”
- Prigozhin was filmed in September of 2022 recruiting soldiers in Russian prisons. He promised them they would be freed is they survived six months in Ukraine. He also promised they would be shot if they tried to desert.
- “In another public message, he defended recruiting rapists and murders on the basis that it meant “your sons” would not be sent to the front. Weeks later Putin announced a mobilisation that has sent around 300,000 extra men to war.”
- Telegraph: “The Institute for the Study of War in its latest report on Tuesday said that Mr Prigozhin was “establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Wagner to criticise his opponents within elite circles”.
- In testimony to British parliament on Tuesday, Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky confirmed reports of Mr Prigozhin’s special place in Putin’s court, describing him as a “significant tool for the Kremlin”.
- “The number of meetings with the dictator is the only currency that’s in demand in that regime, and Mr Prigozhin has got a lot of those meetings,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, who was released after a decade in Russian prison in 2013, and was formerly the country’s richest man.”
Law, Power and Justice 