Has NATO and Ukraine attempted to begin a peace process with Belarus?

It is about the value of human life. People can live in peace and prosperity and have cultural and language differences. If Putin is too lost to reason with others may want to end the genocide. Many people of Belarus do not find their current president a worthy candidate. If there was an offer of peace by his opposition it may assist to stablize the region in hopes of ending the war that Putin refuses to call war.

Lukashenka has been pushing the idea of patriotism and nationalism in the past week. It is time to put that dynamic to work for peace. If the Belarus people appreciate their neighbors they may not want to bring about a conflict that is easily avoided. There are some reports of wooden tanks along the Belarus border with Ukraine. Evidently, it is practice for the real thing. I doubt the people of Belarus realize what the deception of nationalism is bringing them. Putin needs more soldiers. Some dead Belarus soldiers have already been found on Ukraine's battlefields.

I think the people of Belarus need an alternative. They should never think Russian influence is their only option in governance.

June 15, 2022

By Brian Whitmore

This is a nuclear-capable Iskander missile and launcher that Belarus is deploying on the Ukraine border. That is a little to close to NATO for comfort. It isn't a highly sophisicated missile and launcher, but, nuclear capacity sitting on a country's border doesn't have to be all that accurate. I don't see that NATO should put up with this mess. It is getting more reckless than should be tolerated.

With war raging in Ukraine’s east and south, (click here) there are mounting concerns that the threat to the country’s north and west, including the capital Kyiv, could soon return.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on June 10 that Belarus may be forced to enter the war to fight for the west of Ukraine so that it is “not chopped off” by NATO. The Belarusian dictator’s remarks came as Minsk was reinforcing its electronic warfare capabilities along the Ukrainian border, according to a Facebook post by the Ukrainian General Staff. “Combat engineering tasks are being performed to reinforce checkpoints and deploy additional electronic warfare equipment in the areas near the border between Belarus and Ukraine,” the General Staff wrote.

Additionally, Belarus has been conducting military exercises in the area and Lukashenka has announced the creation of an operational command for troops on the border with Ukraine. Russia has recently deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles, Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft gun systems, and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems near the frontier. Alongside these developments, Lukashenka has announced the purchase of S-400s and Iskanders from Russia. The Belarusian autocrat has also ordered the creation of a “people’s militia.”...

June 22, 2022

Andrei Machalau (click here)

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, (click here) a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus....

...Actions requested

Please write to the authorities of Belarus to urge them to:

guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Andrei Machalau and all other human rights defenders in Belarus;

quash the conviction of Andrei Machalau and put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against him and all human rights defenders in Belarus, and ensure that they are able to carry out their activities without hindrance or fear of reprisals,

immediately revert the regional Minsk Bar Association’s decision and reinstate Andrei Machalau his lawyer’s license, as its cancellation is only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate human rights activities;

ensure an enabling legal, institutional, and administrative environment that effectively guarantees the right to defend human rights, the right to freedom of association, and protects human rights defenders in Belarus.

There is already a nascent resistence movement in Belarus. They want to fight communism, not Russians. They don't care where it means the fighting is, if Ukraine then it is Ukraine. There are people in the region that do not see genocide as justified by any power. Belarus and Russian's current leadership are violating the Geneva Conventions and any other human rights dialogue.

May 31, 2022
By Joanna Kakissis

A volunteer sleeps in the Belarusian House, a cultural center in Warsaw, while waiting to leave for Ukraine. Many Belarusians have come to enlist in a battalion named after Kastus Kalinouski, a writer and revolutionary who was the driving force behind Belarusian nationalism in the 19th century.

Inside a sunny classroom in a leafy neighborhood, (click here) a burly man in army fatigues and a black martial arts T-shirt holds up a tourniquet.

"We use this for serious gunshot and shrapnel wounds, or if we have severed limbs because of explosions," he says in Polish to about 30 men.

An interpreter repeats the instructions in Russian for the class — all men are from the former Soviet republic of Belarus. They're learning first aid before heading to Ukraine, where they will join the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion, an all-Belarusian volunteer brigade that fights alongside Ukrainian soldiers.

"We have this motto — for our and your freedom," says Pavel Kukhta, a brigade leader in charge of new recruits who says he receives 100 applications a day. "We're totally in solidarity with Ukrainian people."

Belarusians like Kukhta see Ukraine's defense against Russia as inextricably linked to Belarus' fate as a future democracy free of Kremlin influence. The idea is that Russia's defeat in Ukraine would both deal a blow to the Russian President Vladimir Putin's imperial ambitions and bring down his close ally, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko....

It was wrong to ever trust Russia.

At least China had enough integity to invest in their own space technology.

We need a new one. A rotating space station that produces it's own gravity.

June 22, 2022
By Ed Browne

NASA was forced to abandon a planned five minute boost test (click here) on the International Space Station (ISS) after just five seconds, the reason for which is unclear.

The failure of the planned maneuver has propmpted an investigation by NASA and U.S. aerospace and defense firm Northrop Grumman.

NASA is currently testing its ability to use a U.S.-built cargo ship to complete orbital boosts of the ISS—a maneuver usually carried out with Russian technology....

Today is the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere of Earth. It is time to secure Europe's energy needs before they need it.

“Reckless,” “dangerous,” “destabilising” is Russia's middle name no matter the issue.

June 20, 2022
By Vishwam Sankaran

In November, (click here) missile test prompted ISS crew to take emergency shelter amid fear of collision with debris

The International Space Station had to conduct an avoidance maneuveur on Thursday to avoid a piece of space debris from Russia’s missile tests in November that took out one of their own satellites.

Nasa said the space station’s thrusters fired for about 5 minutes in a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) on Thursday to swerve away from the predicted track of a fragment of “Russian Cosmos 1408 debris.”

While the crew was “never in any danger,” and the maneuver did not impact astronauts’ routine operations, the American space agency said the fragments could have passed within about half a mile (0.8km) from the station.

The shrapnels are from a weapons test that Russia conducted in November 2021 in which it took out an old defunct Soviet-era satellite, launching a cloud of over 1,500 pieces of debris through space.

Following the missile test, both US astronauts and Russia’s own cosmonauts aboard the ISS were forced to take emergency shelter in the orbiting laboratory amid fear of collision with the debris cloud.

Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson had condemned the anti-satellite weapons test, calling it a “reckless,” “dangerous,” “destabilising” action....

Emergency relief.

June 22, 2022

President Joe Biden (click here) will call on Congress in a speech Wednesday to suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes until the end of September, senior administration officials said, framing the move as necessary to provide relief to American consumers but itself not enough to resolve the problem of surging energy prices.

Biden will also call on states to take steps removing their own taxes on gas and diesel. And he’ll tell oil refining companies to increase their capacity ahead of their planned meeting this week with administration officials.

Combined, the senior administration officials claimed, the steps Biden will call for could reduce the price per gallon of gas by $1. Yet that figure relies on a number of steps entirely out of the President’s control — not least of which is convincing a skeptical Congress to approve his plan....

The measure is needed. At this point there is no telling how much price gouging benefits the gas station vs. it's supplier. It would be prudent to examine the cause of high gas prices and document for Congress' reading and assessment.

However, today emergency relief is important to the people of the USA. State and federal taxes can be near $2.00 per gallon in some cases.

The emergency bill needs to focus on the consumer and the relief Americans and vacation consumers can receive immediately. Within this emergency relief there will be tempation by gas station owners and distributers to enjoy the relief themselves without passing on the support to the consumer. In that is price gouging and law enforcement has to take it on. Legislators might want to allow a small percentage of 5% to the relief to the gas station and distributors. But, the consumer of gasoline and methane for home use, should receive 90% of the relief and soon. 

All fifty states rely on tourism for their economic viability. The current cost of gasoline is prohibitive even to staycations in visiting local amusements.

Unfair prejudicial impact on jury

This is an interesting finding. Prosecutors are seen as breaking the ethics of law. Drama is a violation of ethics.

June 22, 2022
By Tina Burnside

Georgia's highest court (click here) has overturned the murder conviction of Justin Ross Harris, the father sentenced to life without parole for the 2014 hot car death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper.

In an opinion issued on Wednesday, the Georgia Supreme Court stated that evidence submitted by the state during Ross' trial regarding his "numerous sexual dalliances and escapades and his desire to act on ongoing sexual communications and solicitations with other women" as the driving force behind his decision to kill his son had unfair prejudicial impact on the jury....

Break the window as calling the police. The chilid or pet does not have to show signs of distress. Distress is already begun and will escalate quickly. The "Break Glass" instrument below is simple and not required to be assembled wasting valuable time.

The owner of the car can call their insurance company to replace the glass. It would be good if state and federal legislators provided protection for Good Samatarians capable of saving the lives inside a hot car even with the windows partly cracked. If it is a certain degrees of temperature outside and there is a living being inside the car then the danger is defined and citizens can act on the circumstances alone and be exonerated from any liability.

June 4, 2022

What would you do to free yourself (click here) from your car if the doors jam? One solution is a car window breaker, which is a tool that helps you exit your car’s cabin in case of an emergency. You can also rescue someone else who is trapped inside their car. This guide will help you find the best car window breaker on the market....

Benefits of a car window breaker.

Prepare for emergencies. Anything can happen when you're traveling, and you may get into an accident. Sometimes cars automatically lock the doors, which can trap you inside. A car window breaker will enable you to break the side window and crawl out of the car.

Prepare for severe weather. A car window breaker can come in handy if you live in a region that experiences severe weather changes, such as storms, floods, or heavy snow. You will have peace of mind knowing that you can break out of your car if the weather takes a turn for the worst. 

Save lives. Side window and windshield breaker tools are an essential item in a safety tool kit, especially for first responders such as firefighters, paramedics, police officers, rescuers, and emergency medical technicians. It helps to remove car crash victims trapped in their cars and is faster than kicking out the window. 

I rest my case. Putin is a killer.

China is lost to ideology. Currently, China and Russian sea vessels are surrounding Japan.

Brinkmanship should never be tolerated and met with force if necessary.

It is time to prepare to be a first strike country, because, Putin obviously is there already. The world has no choice but to confront this new reality. There should be strong resolutions to end the aggression of these countries in the General Assembly of the United Nations. It is time the world address Putin's obvious aggression that is a real threat to the entire global community and China's willingness to assist in death and destruction.

Russia is not just looking at Eastern Ukraine, it is looking at it's next step in expansionism. The world is at risk.

I find it really funny that Russia has no respect for nuclear power and poisoning and it's lethality. Russia is so large and it's borders so expansive just as it is legally defined now, there is no national security scheme to completely protect that country, nor has there been any in the past. Russia is very vulnerable and the Free World needs to stand it's ground. It is time for the Free World to assert it's capacity to end such fear and end aggression by these rouge countries. Yes, Russia and China has joined the ranks of the rouge countries.

June 22, 2022
By Will Stewart

The UK will 'vanish' if the standoff in Lithuania leads (click here) to a nuclear World War 3, a retired Russian general and military expert has warned.

Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinsky explained to Russian state TV that the West is playing a dangerous game by blockading Russian exclave Kaliningrad to stop sanctioned goods being sent to the area through NATO state Lithuania.

He hit out at British general Sir Patrick Sanders, who this week took charge of British land forces and told soldiers to prepare to fight and defeat Russia in a third World War, the Mirror reports.

Buzhinsky stated: “He doesn’t understand that as a result of the Third World War Britain will physically cease to exist... The island will vanish, so I’ve no idea where he or his descendants will live.”

In his message to troops, General Sanders had said: “I am the first Chief of the General Staff since 1941 to take command of the Army in the shadow of a land war in Europe involving a continental power.

"The scale of the enduring threat from Russia shows we've entered a new era of insecurity. It is my singular duty to make our Army as lethal and effective as it can be. The time is now and the opportunity is ours to seize.”...

Afghanistan

Are there mines in operation? They need to be checked for people that may still be alive but trapped.

The Pakistan ISI should never have tolerated the reconstitution of the Taliban. Afghanistan needs sophisticated leaders that are recognized by the rest of the globe. Pakistan destroyed lives and futures for children in Afghanistan.