This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
(I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
Paris - Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here) called French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, in what appeared to have been a markedly more tense exchange than previous conversations between the two leaders.
The 90-minute call failed to deliver a diplomatic breakthrough, and a senior French official said it left Macron convinced that “the worst is yet to come” and that Putin aims to take control of all of Ukraine.
“Your country will pay dearly because it will end up as an isolated country, weakened and under sanctions for a very long time,” Macron told Putin, according to a French official, who added that Macron “called on Vladimir Putin to not lie to himself.”
The conversation, which the French presidency said was initiated by Putin, came as Ukrainian officials were set to hold talks with a Russian delegation, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. But based on the two leaders’ exchange, there was no indication Thursday that a diplomatic solution could be in sight....
February 28, 2022 By Don Jacobson
The International Criminal Court in The Hague announced Monday it is opening an investigation of possible war crimes committed in Ukraine from 2014 through Russia's ongoing invasion of the country.
Court prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said that after reviewing preliminary findings covering the 2013-14 protests against pro-Russian former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, as well as the subsequent annexation of Crimea and battles with Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region, there is enough evidence of war crimes to merit a prosecution.
The case also would include allegations of crimes against humanity stemming from the current invasion, Khan said.
The move was announced as Ukrainian officials claimed dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in the city of Kharkiv on Monday as Russian forces unleashed a major escalation of the violence....
According to what I understand the ICC member states need to immediately put together a clear and concise definition of aggression.
If the statute does not have a clear and concise definition of aggression, it can be decided by court precedent. I believe an investigation into Russia's continued aggression against Ukraine will serve as a perfect court precedent to define aggression the way the world understands it.
When a powerful country kills innocent people it is ethnic cleansing. This is a threat to every country and every person on Earth. It is time to end this hideous allowance of danger to our lives and put the criminals behind bars.
March 3, 2022
By Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab
The war on Ukraine unleashed by Putin on February 24, 2022, (click here) has shocked the world. This act of aggression against Ukraine was followed by reports on attacks on civilians and civilian objects. On March 2, 2022, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 752 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 227 killed (31 men, 25 women, 6 boys, and 3 girls, as well as 6 children and 156 adults whose sex is yet unknown) and 525 injured (42 men, 33 women, 7 girls, and 2 boys, as well as 19 children and 422 adults whose sex is yet unknown). OHCHR believes that real figures are considerably higher. Most of these casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and air strikes....
Having to flee one's homeland is a from of genocide. Remember, one of Putin's premises for the Ukraine invasion was to protect "Russian people." Obviously with the shelling of residential areas and the deaths of so many as well as the movement of at least a million Ukrainians that is definitely leading to genocide. In that, understand that land and ethnicity such as exists in Ukraine is important. The people have a strong history in that region. Culture is dependent on that land. And what will happen to the Ukrainian genetic existence if they are forced to assimilate to other European countries?
Ethnic countries exist. They exist all throughout Europe. Their cultures are rich with knowledge of the land and wisdom of such things as farming and economics. But, most of all the land interprets into millennia of tradition that holds people together in a sense of community. When all that is lost, there is a huge upheaval of values that can cause people to become estranged from their very understanding of who they are in the world. That is genocide.
Add to the loss of these aspect of ethnic definitions the assimilation into other countries where marriages will take place and babies are born; what will occur in a few generations? The very basis of an ethnic identity is lost in genetic mixing. This, in the case of Ukraine, is a deliberate strategy by Russia. It strongly appears from every aspect of a person's being Russia is determined to destroy the very essence of what it is to be Ukrainian.
So, there is no doubt, even besides the unjustified war and killing, the destruction of Ukraine to replace it with Russian people is a definition of genocide without a doubt.
March 3, 2022 By Jim Heintz, Yuras Karmanau, Vladimir Isachenkov and Dasha Litvinova
Kyiv - Russian forces (click here) battled for control of a crucial energy-producing city in Ukraine’s south on Thursday and gained ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea, as Ukrainian leaders called on citizens to rise up and wage guerrilla war against the invaders.
The fighting at Enerhodar, a city on the Dnieper River that accounts for about one-quarter of the country’s power generation, came as the another round of talks between the two sides yielded what Ukraine said was a tentative agreement with Russia to set up safe corridors inside the country for evacuating citizens and delivering humanitarian aid.
The mayor of Enerhodar, the site of the biggest nuclear plant in Europe, said Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city’s outskirts. Video showed flames and clouds of black smoke rising above the city of over 50,000, with people streaming away from the inferno, past wrecked cars, as sirens wailed.
Moscow’s ground advance on Ukraine’s capital in the north has apparently stalled, with a huge armored column outside Kyiv at a standstill. And stiffer than expected resistance from the outmanned, outgunned Ukrainians has staved off the swift victory that Russia may have expected....
Nothing else adds up. The attacks on Ukraine are leveled at human beings. I thought at first it was an gross misjudgment. The residential shelling is murder.
It was a great speech (click here) and it was the first time a woman Vice President sat with a woman Speaker of the House as leaders of each house of Congress. It was a great evening. The speech for me was wonderful and President Biden hit all the high spots.
President Biden has his own style in speaking. I am sure it was unwelcome by some, but, very refreshing to others. He speaks strongly about the issues he believes in and that can never be bad.
Ukraine is not alone. This morning more countries are contributing to the effort in providing weapons and reinforcements are coming from the Czech Republic, Netherlands and Belarus. Ukraine is expected to be accepted into the European Union. That opens doors the Russians never expected. If Putin lands one bomb in any of those countries he will open Pandora's Box.
Few researchers in Ukraine are able to continue work, and most have left their posts to join the army, hide in bomb shelters or flee the country
Science in Ukraine has come to a halt. Russia’s invasion has crippled the country’s newly established research agency and forced its leader to a bomb shelter in Kyiv.
During the day, Olga Polotska, the executive director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU), is helping deliver food and supplies across Kyiv. At night she has to go back to an underground shelter from where she is trying to keep herself and her agency alive, checking updates on social media from researchers scattered across the country.
In a phone interview with SciencełBusiness from Kyiv 28 February, she appeals for assistance to Ukrainian scientists. Any kind of international joint programmes involving Ukrainian researchers would help keep the country’s science base alive. “Ukrainian scientists will need a lot of support,” Polotska said.
The agency was founded in 2018 and became fully operational only two years later. It was part of a push by the Ukrainian government to establish a research institution that can organise transparent and excellence-based funding competitions for Ukrainian researchers. The new institution was expected to help improve an underfunded research system and to halt the exodus of academics and scientists to the west.
The new agency was meant to give Ukraine’s top scientists the opportunity to compete for money outside the regular funding that usually covers the basics: salaries and the utility bills. “Ukrainian science has been underfinanced for many years,” Polotska said....
Some of the Russian bombs are falling into buildings without exploding. They are heavy so they do damage.
Putin will continue to escalate his attacks with more and more deadly offensives as his military fails it's purpose. This is carnage. This isn't war. These people have done nothing to deserve their treatment, injury or death. Nothing. They did nothing, except, exist.
Putin has no justification for his hate or his attacks upon a country that simply wants to exist. I have never witnessed a country of people so determined to rid themselves of corruption and live according to the morality at the center of their lives. This war is more than unjust, it is criminal.
Astonishing (click here) moment diplomats WALK OUT as Kremlin minister tells disarmament conference Russia was forced to invade Ukraine to 'stop them getting nuclear weapons.
Belarus has also entered the war, Ukraine claimed, with troops launching an attack on city of Chernihiv
There were war games and complete denial by Moscow. Is there any law of the Geneva Convention Putin is not willing to break?
March 1, 2022 By Lillian Gissen
Alex Spektor, 46, and Irma Nuñez, 48, from Georgia (USA), are doing everything they can to keep their newborn babies, Lenny and Moishe Spektor, safe amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine
An American couple (click here) who welcomed twin preemie babies via surrogate in Ukraine are now in a desperate fight to get their children out of the war-torn capital.
Alex Spektor, 46, and Irma Nuñez, 48, from Georgia, are doing everything they can to keep their newborn babies, Lenny and Moishe Spektor, safe amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The twin boys were born at 32 and a half weeks - two months early - via surrogate on Friday at Adonis maternity hospital in Kyiv, after a 'complicated' pregnancy.
Due to their small size, the babies (who weigh around four pounds each) are now facing terrifying health complications - including having trouble breathing - as a war rages on right outside the hospital walls.
As 'staff and supplies dwindle' at the 'unstable and dangerous' hospital, the parents are desperate to transfer the four-day-old babies to a safer area....
There is an entry on this blog that refers to periorbital edema. That is a collection of fluid around the eyes. That can be related to several issues, including heart problems. I saw a picture the other day where his face looked puffy. Steroids came to mind.
Vladimir Putin (click here) was said to be looking 'ashen and bloated' in a meeting today as the global condemnation of his invasion of Ukraine continued. In an image released by the Kremlin, the Russian president was seen in Moscow sitting with the Governor of Saint Petersburg
Kremlin (click here) issued chilling threat telling civilians to flee or die as military begins bombarding 'strategic' targets
The tower stands by the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial site where 34,000 Jews were slaughtered in two days
The tower is a television tower that obviously wasn't carrying Russian propaganda.
Russia has been a hostile country before when they took control of Crimea and endorsed the rebels of eastern Ukraine to begin a civil war. This is not a new posture for Putin and his thugs.
Some Russian soldiers are surrendering without a fight and Vladimir Putin's armored convoy has stalled amid fuel and supply problems, according to a Pentagon official who briefed reporters on Tuesday....
The Russian soldiers were never told they were entering a war theater. They are not prepared to save their own lives. They are shocked by the war and they may very well have family in Ukraine.
My concern is that Russia will become desperate in their politics to win this war even if it means completely destroying Ukraine.
The population of Houston, Texas is 2.3 million people. There have been 949,000 deaths of Americans due to the spread of COVID-19 and it's variants. That is approaching the size of half the population of Houston, Texas. The graph below shows a virus still very active and viable and still killing Americans.
At the beginning of the global pandemic the USA was underprepared for the virus. N-95 masks were in shortage and the medical community was reusing them and finding alternatives that would protect them. As a result of emergency equipment being manufactured abroad, including N95 masks, we lost more than 7000 health care workers (click here) and that was as of September.
I have been able to do home testing for the virus with a negative result and I always wear an N95 mask whenever I am in a place with more than me in the room or store. It can be a burden when trying on clothes, but, it is okay. I can have it on even in dressing rooms.
I am also vaccinated with two primary japs and two booster jabs. That is how a country ends the spread of the virus and every American should be seeking to achieve that goal.
March 1, 2022 By Amy Goldstein and Emily Guskin
Most Americans (click here) say some restrictions on normal activities should remain in place to try to control the coronavirus, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, which finds that public wariness of the pandemic lingers even as federal health officials and a growing roster of governors have softened mask advice.
The nationwide survey also shows that, two years into a health crisis that has claimed nearly 950,000 lives in the United States, bipartisan majorities think the virus is only “somewhat under control” or “not at all” controlled. Even so, most say they have fully or mostly returned to their normal, pre-coronavirus activities....
The Russian soldiers in Ukraine were unaware of the war they are currently facing. Putin gave them no speech for inspiration. The Russian soldiers were thrown into a battle to save their own lives.
President Zelenskyy should speak to them and offer leadership to end the attacks by Russia.
Not only do the soldiers not want to kill Ukrainans, their own president is and was unsure of their loyalty to him.
Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations on Monday read out what he said were the final text messages from a Russian soldier to his mother - describing his horror at the unfolding war before he was killed.
It came during an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine's representative, Sergiy Kyslytsya, made an impassioned plea for help, holding up a screenshot of the soldier's texts....
Putin must lock down his nulear weapons and return Chernobyl to the IAEA. The invasion into Ukraine isn't recognized by the Russian people.
Russia was banned from competing in international ice skating events on Tuesday, a day after being kicked out of soccer competitions and hockey -- President Vladimir Putin's favorite sport. The decisions follow the International Olympic Committee's request to keep Russian athletes out of sporting events around the world.
The International Skating Union, the body that runs the sport around the world, said no athletes from Russia or Belarus "shall be invited or allowed to participate'' in events until further notice.
"The ISU Council reiterates its solidarity with all those affected by the conflict in Ukraine and our thoughts are with the entire Ukrainian people and country,'' the ISU said in a statement.
Belarus has been a key ally of Russia in its attack on Ukraine.
The world figure skating championships are scheduled for later this month in Montpellier, France. The ISU decision means Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova and 15-year-old teammate Kamila Valieva, who was the focus of a still-unresolved doping dispute at last month's Winter Olympics, will be excluded from the competition.
Also Tuesday, the International Volleyball Federation said it had stripped Russia of hosting the men's world championships in August and September and would seek another host country or countries.
"It would be impossible to prepare and stage the World Championships in Russia due to the war in Ukraine,'' the FIVB board said....
February 28, 2022
New York - Top-seeded Elina Svitolina, a 27-year-old professional tennis player (click here) from Ukraine, says she will withdraw from the Monterrey Open rather than face a Russian opponent at the Mexican tournament unless tennis’s governing bodies follow the International Olympic Committee’s lead and insist that players from Russia and Belarus are only identified as “neutral athletes.”
Svitolina wrote Monday on Twitter that she did not want to play her opening-round contest against Anastasia Potapova “nor any other match against Russian or Belarussian tennis players until” the WTA women’s tour, ATP men’s tour and International Tennis Federation “follow the recommendations of the IOC” and bar those countries’ competitors from using any national symbols, colors, flags or anthems.
The Russian military assault on Ukraine was into its fifth day....
St. Petersburg is near Europe. There is a strong cultural influence by Europe as there is frequent movement across boundaries for tourism and family visits.
The Russian people have chosen flowers at official buildings as a protest against Russian aggression.
Cancellation of cultural issues is a strong signal to the people that things have changed for the worse in their country.
Every roadblock to Putin needs to be put in place.
Support the artists that support freedom and democracy.
February 28, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched (click here) a full-scale attack on Ukraine in the early morning hours of Feb. 24 that has left hundreds dead and many injured, and in response, music artists are protesting the violence by canceling their upcoming concerts in the country.
After months of military buildup along the Ukrainian border, Putin announced that he was deploying a “special military operation” into Ukraine that has since turned into an unprovoked attack on the country. Putin is demanding that Ukraine demilitarizes, and is aiming to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, a defensive alliance of 30 countries including the United States.
See below for our ongoing list of artists who have canceled scheduled concerts in Russia.
Green Day
Green Day had been scheduled to perform on May 29 at Moscow’s Spartak Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 45,000.
“With heavy hearts, in light of current events we feel it is necessary to cancel our upcoming show in Moscow at Spartak Stadium,” the band explained via an Instagram Story. “We are aware that this moment is not about stadium rock shows, it’s much bigger than that. But we also know that rock and roll is forever and we feel confident there will be a time and a place for us to return in the future. Refunds available at the point of purchase. Stay safe.”
Louis Tomlinson
Tomlinson was scheduled to perform in Kyiv’s Stereo Plaza in Ukraine on July 4 before traveling to Moscow, Russia, to perform at Circus City Hall on July 6 as part of his 2022 World Tour, in support of his 2020 debut album Walls.
“Due to the recent events in Ukraine, I have to sadly announce that my tour shows in Moscow and Kyiv are cancelled until further notice,” he wrote in a short note to his fans on Twitter. “The safety of my fans is my priority and my thoughts go out to the people of Ukraine and all those suffering from this needless war.”...
There is a huge difference between the Russian invasion in Syria than Ukraine. Syria was an ally before the invasion, this is a hostile invasion into Ukraine.
The West needs to maintain their sanctions even if Ukraine falls to Russian influence. To allow the sanctions to be removed only gives permission for more of this without end. Putin will put his own administration in the so called leadership of Ukraine. There will be no election. The election in Crimea was fraudulent.
This permission for Russia ends now and ends today. The world does not need Russian oil and gas. Quite frankly, Earth needs far less.
Americans need to buy electric cars and trucks. This is the result of Russian wealth. Americans cannot provide wealth to Russia to allow more of the same. Many of the vehicles noted in Ukraine are new and purchased with oil and gas sales.
Soldiers of Fortune need to find their resolve to assist Ukraine.
The "Trump-Russia Speak" in the USA states there would be no war if he was president. The invasion started in 2014 before Trump decided to run. Honestly. Communists.
Chernobyl must be returned to the custody of the IAEA. Immediately.
February 28, 2022
Russia (click here) also calls for 'the demilitarization and denazification of the Ukrainian state'
Russia's President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday that the demilitarization of Ukraine and Western recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula were prerequisites to ending fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
"Vladimir Putin stressed that a settlement is possible only if Russia's legitimate security interests are unconditionally taken into account,” a Kremlin readout of the call said.
These interests include “the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea,” in addition to “the demilitarization and denazification of the Ukrainian state and ensuring its neutral status," the Kremlin continued....
Putin is acting as though he has a legitmate grievance with the world in general. It is ridiculous. He is emboldened and that is a clear indication his estimation of the circumstances is completely wrong.
February 28, 2022 By Jay Cannon,Celina Tebor, David Jackson, Caren Bohan, Katie Wadington, Matthew Brown, and Rick Rouan
The moves came as Ukrainian and Russian delegations met at the Belarusian border for their first direct talks since Russia's invasion began on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said it would demand an immediate cease-fire.
In response to Russia's invasion, the U.N. was meeting in two separate forums: The General Assembly gathered for only its 11th emergency meeting, and the 15-member Security Council came together again to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.
Also Monday, the U.S. announced it was expelling 12 Russian diplomats stationed at U. headquarters in New York. for engaging in “espionage activities” that undermine U.S. national security....
The people in Crimea are Ukraineans, not Russians. If Vladimir Putin is paranoid about Russia's national security, it is his problem, not the world's!
He had set off from his home in Crimea, passing a Russian military convoy along the way. Nearing the boundary, he walked past an abandoned hotel from the days before the hostilities, when Crimea's Black Sea resorts were a top vacation destination. Then he showed his papers to the armed Ukrainian guard on the other side, and waited for a lift next to little stray dogs and a row of dried fish dangling from the open trunk of a merchant's car....
This is the result of propaganda. The people do not accept the fact that Russia has borders and expansionism is an international violation. That is Soviet Speak and not that of an independent Russia.
February 23, 2022
As the world waits (click here) to see if Russia will invade Ukraine, an exclusive new poll of both countries for CNN finds that twice as many Russians believe it would be right for Moscow to use military force to prevent Kyiv from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as say it would be wrong.
One out of every two Russians (50%) says it would be right, while only a quarter (25%) say it would be wrong. The other quarter (25%) are unsure, according to the survey.
But the poll also found that more Russians think it would be wrong than right to use military force “to reunite Russia and Ukraine” – two countries with a long and complicated history of being intertwined....
Why does NATO exist? Putin needs to answer that question. We, in The West, know why NATO exists and Putin is clearly demonstrating with Ukraine why NATO exists. Putin has no right to reach outside Russia's borders to define where Russia's national security interest begins and ends. NO RIGHT! Putin is why out of line and it needs to end.
The communists have these ideas that are part of their political dialogue all the time that The West is interested in destroying them. WRONG! Just because Putin is paranoid about Russia's national security he needs to PROVE concretely that his ideology is actually backed by facts. It is not!
Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine did not invade Russia. Russia invaded and is occupying the Chernobyl nuclear power plant without any agreement with any other international authority regarding the state of the facility or the right to occupy the land. Putin's plans have caused a spike in radiation and now Ukraine is starting to look like Russia, poisoned and exporting poison to it's neighbors.
Putin is reckless and dangerous.
I would think he would welcome peace talks in Geneva, it would allow him to breath fresh air and know what it actually feels like.
I have the information lined up to put on the blog about the organized crime that is making a mess of our Seniors and their future, but, there is just too much today that occurred. The world needs to get caught up on events that have the ability to change the world in 30 minutes.
This is just crazy. A straight jacket comes to mind.
The EU shutdown their air space to Russian planes of any kind. I think all of NATO needs to do the same thing. Putin likes Russians at home, so they should go there.
I think a boycott on Russian vodka is in order, too.
The sanctions on the SWIFT financial network makes sense (click here). The SWIFT network is how wire transfers occur. It is conducted through major banks, like the Bank of Mellon in New York. There are SWIFT network banks all around the world. During war time it only makes sense to end the ability of the enemy to transfer money around Earth.
An alternative to SWIFT, albeit more expensive, is crytocurrency. It would be wise if the crytocurrency system was limited to free countries. Putin is known to favor crytocurrency. Right now the crypto networks charge as much as 15 percent or more per transaction. Civilized countries will want to limit the overseas ability of their domestic networks, including ATMs. The draw back to that is that it may be a vehicle for fleeing families and a bit of a lifeline, but, there needs to be some degree of inhibition to that network as it is favored by Russia instead of it's own currency.
Currently, Russian oligarches are told they may not abandon the Russian Central Bank. It is easy to have it operate within Russia so long as it's Russian Ruble (currently valued in exchange for USA dollar at $0.012) is used among the people. If foreign currency is perferred that may be a problem. That is why it is important crytocurrency is brought under sanctions as well.
Russian imports will become very expensive within Russia, so limiting imports might be a good idea. There needs to be an understanding, also, of the role China might be playing to bolster Russia's economy, including imports, expecially of raw materials with a military purpose. Wall Street will want to move away from companies doing business exclusively with Russia and/or China. Western citizens in Russia or China may want to plot a path home. There are lots of jobs here.
