Russia's Mobilization Fulfilled; Hurdles Yet To Surface

"We have stopped sending notices to people, and the task you set, 300,000 people, has been completed. No further measures are planned. [According to Shoigu, 82,000 soldiers have been sent to the conflict zone in Ukraine, with half of those assigned to active-duty units, and others continuing to do combat training.] Over 1,300 government representatives, 27,000 entrepreneurs, and 13,000 volunteers were called up and joined the ranks; the average age of those mobilized is 35 years."

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu

 

"It’s necessary to draw the necessary conclusions and modernize the entire system of work of military registration and enlistment offices." 

"Based on the experience of conducting a special military operation, we need to think over and make adjustments to the way we build all components of the armed forces, including the ground forces."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin inspects a training ground in the Ryazan region earlier in October for recruits who were summoned into military service under the now-suspended "partial mobilization."  Kremlin Press Office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Which begs the question: how is it that the immense, Russian military with its technologically superior, up-dated munitions, rocketry, missiles nuclear-driven war machinery-equipped force somehow neglected the primary function of a national military in proper training for its troops? And if the military elite at the ranks of commanders, generals and those in command of the servicemen they urge to superior performance on the battlefield, while failing to respect the basic tenets of modern warfare including protection of civilian population welfare fail, how can they sustain pridel?

 

This has been a military adventure that failed to deliver what its commander-in-chief demanded of the national armed forces. Forces that failed to distinguish themselves on the battlefield, so that orders to resort to aerial bombings became urgent while the rank-and-file occupying villages and towns felt free to engage in war crimes, murdering civilians, looting and raping. A 'special military operation' that was not a war where those in command became the martyrs to an odious cause of destroying a country, dying at a inexplicable rate, the result of Ukrainian defiance and counterattack.

 

A war that is not a war going so badly for the aggressors that the regular army was seen as insufficient in numbers (much less effectiveness) as to risk havoc on the home front with mass protests certain to erupt with a mobilization call, due to extenuating circumstances. However, Moscow has now announced the reservist call-up is now complete, the mission to draft 300,000 in a month accomplished. Over a quarter of those recruits already appearing in the field of battle. The necessary training? Well... 

 

According to trusted accounts, the newly minted soldiers on occasion were sent to the trenches mere days following a summons, training considered an unnecessary distraction. A count of 44 mobilized Russian servicemen have given their all in Ukraine, to be delivered back to their families in boxes, according to media reports and public obituaries. Some 30 others evidently took suicide as a way out of the morass they found themselves in. 

 

Others whose poor health should have prevented their mobilization have succumbed. Morale, never high at the best of times raises an issue of Russian enlistment offices failing to adhere to the impact of health requirements in the process of recruitment. Such nuisance details highlight the decrepit state of the Russian military and the casual attitude toward a growing death count, augmenting the already steep casualty rate of this special military operation.

 

Center for Strategic and International Studies

 

The mobilization drive that sent tens of thousands of Russians out of the country in a desperate attempt to evade recruitment gave impetus to sustained public protests against the war. Appearances are everything; vital propaganda tools that all is well, with Mr. Putin thanking reservists "for their dedication to duty, for their patriotism, for their firm determination to defend our country, to defend Russia, which means their home, their family  our citizens our people".

Initial issues in the supply of uniforms and weapons to newly mobilized troops were unfortunate, mentioned Defence Minister Shoigu, but now resolved. The good news is that the 'partial' mobilization has been completed. After conflict setbacks finally impacting personally and directly from the special military operation. Anti-mobilization protests saw over 2,000 people arrested. Taking place mostly in areas where ethnic minorities dominate the population, where they charge having been disproportionately targeted to be sent to the front lines. 

The call-up resulted in men who were too old or unfit being notified for duty. Former Soviet republics  neighbouring Russia have given haven to tens of thousands of Russian men who fled the country in avoidance of being forced to fight. The excessive need and speed of recruitment speaks of desperation, an indication that Russia is steadily moving toward losing a brutal war they imposed on Ukraine, where mobilization to fight back encountered another kind of reality, that men too old to fight committed themselves regardless in protection of their nation.

Ukrainian forces are slowly, steadily and successfully moving toward Kherson. Both troops, Russian and Ukraine have dug into muddy trench lines north of Kherson where rocket, mortar and artillery fire is constantly exchanged; the Russians firing over five times the numbers coming from the Ukraine side. Russians were using a grain silo about a kilometre from the trenches for cover and observation. 

 

Ukrainian gunners manning a 120 mm mortar hidden in bushes target the Russian armoured vehicles and ammunition behind the silo, trying to avoid hitting the structure in reflection of its vital importance to the agricultural region. "For every one shell that we send, they send back five. They shoot at us most of the time", said 51-year-old Ukrainian soldier Hennadyi.

 

A Russian serviceman addresses reservists at a gathering point in the course of partial mobilization of troops, aimed to support the country's military campaign in Ukraine, in the town of Volzhsky in the Volgograd region, Russia September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

 

First Nations Eco-Terrorism in Canada's Oilfields

"[Get involved in] decolonial solidarity actions [designed to halt the final stages of drilling at the Coastal GasLink site; calling on] anarchist groups [and] climate activists [to mobilize by November 5 to] kill the drill."

"It's time to plan, prepare and protect what is left."

Molly Wickham, Gidimt'en Clan

"We do not need 'warriors' from other First Nations or non-Wet'suwet'en protesters to protect us or speak for us, especially when so many Gidimt'en and so many Wet'suwet'en do not support them."

Letter by members of the Gidimt'en Clan

"[The activists] have never consulted us [the elected leadership] about their actions and cannot claim to represent us or any other member of the First Nation."

Chief Maureen Luggi, Wet'suwet'en leadership

Coastal GasLink installs pipe along its planned 670-kilometre route from northeastern B.C.'s gas fields to an LNG export terminal in Kitimat, B.C. (Coastal GasLink)

 

In November of 2021 a blockade was perpetrated by activists claiming they were 'land defenders' representing an anti-pipeline faction of the Wet'suwwet'en First Nation. Their protest revolved around the Coastal GasLink project, a 670-kilometre-long pipeline under construction meant to supply LNG Canada with natural gas from north-eastern British Columbia. The pipeline to run from the Dawson Creek area to LNG Canada's facility in Kitimat, B.C.

The elected leadership of the Wet'suwet'en has repeatedly condemned the actions of the 'land defenders'. They signed agreements with the Coastal GasLink project, seeing it as a way that First Nations could prosper through employment and look forward to sharing the profits inherent in the ongoing need for energy products through natural resource extraction on First Nations hereditary land.

Members of the Gidimt'en Clan also decried the rise of anti-pipeline violence within their traditional territory. Hereditary leaders of the clans claim to have the authority to make such decisions as to object to the development of oil and gas extraction, whom the elected leaders accuse of interference in the governing affairs of the First Nations bands prepared to work for the projects and to share in their profits.

 

Machinery Coastal GasLink says was damaged near its Morice River drill pad near Houston, B.C., on Feb 17, 2022. RCMP has released video of suspects in the alleged attack. (Coastal GasLink)

 

Back on February 17, some twenty to forty assailants wielding axes descended on Coastal GasLink's Morice River drilling site. In the dark of night they hijacked heavy equipment and battered other heavy industrial equipment to the tune of several million dollars on vehicles and onsite structures. Security staff with Coastal GasLink told of their work trucks surrounded by parties of masked figures bashing the vehicles with hatchets.

 

A picture on the Coastal GasLink website shows a damaged trailer on the construction site in northern B.C. Neither RCMP nor CGL have officially commented on a motive for the attack. (Coastal GasLink)

 

When RCMP first responders attempted to approach the scene, they were delayed from reaching the site by encountering newly-felled trees blocking the roadways, and seeing shadowy figures who began pelting them with smoke bombs from behind the treeline. Three months before that attack the Morice River drill site saw a coordinated illegal blockade that stranded up to 500 workers  at the camp, unable to leave or to access badly needed supplies. 

 

A blockade set up by the Gidimt'en Clan in 2019 to stop access to pipeline workers. The blockades erected this week have cut off more than 500 workers, Coastal GasLink says. (Michael Toledano)

 

Finally they were freed by a "rescue and enforcement" mission by the RCMP, dismantling the protest camps and clearing away obstructions. Some of the obstruction/barricadess were in fact commandeered heavy equipment from the site itself. Since then, the attackers of the February event have not struck again.

In the same region of Interior British Columbia, coordinated attacks on targets linked to Coastal asLink pipeline saw arsonists on Wednesday strike a parking lot full of RCMP vehicles. Before dawn, a number of vehicles were set on fire in the parking lot of the Sunshine Inn in Smithers, B.C. Once firefighters extinguished the blaze, it was discovered that eight vehicles were destroyed, including fouu that were marked RCMP cruisers, and a provincial ambulance.

"This appears to be a targeted attack on emergency services vehicles. Preliminary investigation indicates this is an arson", a statement by RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Madonna Saunderson advised. The hotel where the vehicles were set on fire is located about an hour's drive from a Coastal Gas Link work camp, the subject of numerous legal blockades as well as that infamously violent midnight attack.

Eight vehicles, including four RCMP and one ambulance vehicle, were set on fire outside the Sunshine Inn in Smithers, B.C., early on October 26, 2022. Photo by B.C. RCMP

Russian Propaganda, Russian Threats, Russian War Crimes

"[Energoatom] assumes ... [the Russians] are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at [the plant]."

"Destruction of these [174 containers of radioactive waste] as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres of the adjacent territory."

Energoatom, Ukrainian state energy provider

A mock 'dirty bomb' is detonated during an exercise by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 16, 2007. Moscow has recently and repeatedly claimed Ukraine is planning to detonate such a device on its own territory. (Richard Clement/Reuters)

 

With the Russian military on its back feet, fears are rising that Vladimir Putin's not-so-veiled threats surrounding his authorization of the Russian military to use a 'dirty bomb' which it will accuse Kyiv of doing, has both Ukraine and the international community supporting it on edge. Intelligence has it that Russian forces have been readied for work in 'radioactive conditions'. Lt.-Gen.Igor Kirillov, head of radiation chemical and biological defence forces of the Russian armed forces was said to have given a briefing on the issue.

Propaganda from Russian malinformation sources speaks of an accusatory scenario that has Russian authorities claiming that Kyiv has authorized its military to prepare to use a 'dirty bomb' and point the finger of responsibility at Moscow, in a diabolical move to escalate the war, when anyone with an ounce of reflection would know it is the reverse that will occur; Russia preparing to send its war in Ukraine into an altogether new dimension that will have wider, and far more dangerous international consequences.

A controlled dirty bomb is unlikely to have as many direct human casualties as a nuclear bomb. But its potential to heavily destroy the viability of arable land for farming will have its impact on already short supplies of food needed by the international community. The disturbing fear that partners with any possibility that radiation aftereffects will be circulating in close proximity to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant occupied by Russia and operated by Ukrainian plant workers arouses a spectre of viral danger.

 

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu sent his claims about Ukraine to his counterparts in the West. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/The Associated Press)

 

Russia's defence minister, General Sergei Shoigu put in official calls to counterparts in Britain, France, Turkey and the U.S., alleging Ukraine was planning a "dirty bomb" strike shortly. Energoatom for its part, the operator of the country's four nuclear power plants, spoke of Russian forces carrying out secret construction work last week at the occupied plant and that Russian authorities in control of the area were refused access to Ukrainian staff running the plant and nor were monitors from the UN atomic energy watchdog given inspection access.

Dirty bombs while not as dangerous as nuclear bombs, are weapons of terror; killing far fewer people, but their psychological impact is hugely unnerving to an occupied population. They will scatter radioactive material placed around a conventional explosive. And although the explosive blast from a dirty bomb will not be maximized by the radioactive waste, people who survive the explosion would breathe radioactive material, requiring immediate medical intervention.

The entire geographic region the blast would contaminate would require decontamination following which people would have to be permanently evacuated in the area; life there for  a prolonged period of time just not possible, the region completely abandoned. Part of Russia's 'scorched earth' policy in Ukraine which has already displaced millions of people as well as having created millions of refugees, killed and wounded tens of thousands of civilians.

Some analysts suggest Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn't need the pretense of a dirty bomb to launch a nuclear weapon. (Alexei Babushkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/The Associated Press)

Chinese 'Service Stations' Tracking Dissidents Abroad

"We are Investigating the activities of three so-called police centres. Once there is more clarity on the matter we will decide on appropriate action."

"We have not been informed about these centres via diplomatic channels.":

"If the developments outlined in the report by Safeguard Defenders threatens to strengthen the feelings of intimidation and threats among the Dutch Chinese community, that is a bad thing, and the government is of the opinion that action should be taken against this."

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

"Due to the impact of COVID-19, many Chinese overseas cannot return to China in time to deal with matters like driver's licence renewal."

"In order to help them, relevant Chinese local governments have opened online service platforms, mainly assisting Chinese nationals in need in handling physical examinations and changes of driver's licences."

Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson

According to the Irish Times, this Fuzhou overseas police service station opened in Dublin earlier this year. The newspaper says the signage has since been removed. (Conor Gallagher/The Irish Times)

The news is finally emerging of China's establishment of dozens of "overseas police stations" around the world causing activists living in those countries as citizens who are critical of Beijing to fear they could be tracked and harassed as dissidents in China's crackdown on 'corruption'. The new Chinese legislation makes it lawful (for China) to arrest and charge with treason any critics of the Beijing government wherever they live. 

It has been revealed the cadres of the United Front Work Department installed alongside Chinese embassies and consulates abroad harass and intimidate Chinese who are citizens of other countries whom China suspects or has reason to believe agitate against China. The more recent appearance of these 'police stations' posing as helpful consular enclaves on foreign soil simply continue the work of the United Front going so far as to pressure Chinese living abroad to return to China to prevent harm coming to their relatives.

The outposts' presence coming to light reveals the growing concern relating to the ruling Chinese Communist Party's ongoing influence over its citizens and former citizens now living abroad. The other nations within which these groups operate view the activities as illegal, in the process devaluing democratic institutions while China's well-known and seasoned theft of economic and political secrets are accessed to benefit China.

The non-governmental group based in Spain, Safeguard Defenders, last month published a report titled "110 Overseas Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild", focusing on the stations. Three such police stations have been discovered in Toronto, registered as ;service stations' under operation of the Fuzhon Public Security Bureau, a police force esatblished in the Chinese metropolis of Fuzhon. 

In the Netherlands a virtual office in Amsterdam and another at a physical address in Rotterdam were being investigated by the Dutch government. Mao Ning, a spokesperson with the Chinese Foreign Ministry explained "Chinese public security authorities strictly observe the international law and fully respect the judicial sovereignty of other countries". And as Wang Wenbin, another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman observed, China is tracking down transnational crimes, their operation conducted fully in line with international law.

Getty Images

"Death to the Dictator!"

"Experience shows that Iran's enemies, after failing to create a split in the nation's united ranks, take revenge through violence and terror. "

"This crime will definitely not go unanswered, and the security and law enforcement forces will teach a lesson to those who designed and carried out the attack."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi

Photo: Associated Press

At a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran is undergoing ongoing paroxysms of inflamed protests throughout the country with woman gathering in huge numbers to emphatically give evidence of their unwillingness to continue to obey a restricted lifestyle to satisfy the misogynistic Islamist demands of the Iranian clergy, Islam demonstrates yet again the deep and violent antipathies within its major sects. Where loathing between Sunni and Shia factions are infamously demonstrated in attacks taking place in the sacred precincts of Mosques where blood is freely shed as a testament to the gentle faith of the religion of peace.

 

There is a seasonal regularity to attacks by Sunnis that the Iranian regime correctly identifies as terrorists attacking a terrorist state. They deserve one another. The regime that terrifies its own population, coercing and exploiting them to involuntarily accept the theocracy's edicts in strict adherence to Sharia law as it is interpreted by Iranian Ayatollas. The country whose penchant is to organize disaffected Shiite populations in other countries to become death-cult threats against majority Sunni Arab states and the Jewish state of Israel, sees its evil coming home to roost. 

For people of faith who dedicate every aspect of their lives to worship of Allah honouring the Prophet Mohammad and in the process organize themselves to express the values purloined from a greater, earlier religion of ancient origins, Muslims seem to be infinitely more aggressive with a penchant for carrying deadly arms and using them than most inhabitants of other countries not located in the Middle East. With the additional penchant of preying on one another, in the process slaughtering other Muslims whose values deviate from their own.

Two gunmen opened fire on Wednesday at a major Shiite holy site in Shiraz, Iran. Fifteen worshippers were murdered and an estimated 40 people in attendance at the Shah Cheragh mosque were wounded. Extremists targeting an extremist state. The worshippers guilty of nothing but honouring their faith and tradition. The gunmen are under arrest, and the authorities promise a retaliatory bloodbath. One they will not hesitate to deliver.

Their taste for blood has been whetted of late by the massive protests that have resulted from the murder in custody of a young Kurdish woman whose crime was to offend the morality police by wearing her headscrf too loosely. Mahsa Amini's death has been avenged by her fellow Kurds whose uprising has inspired Iranians all over the country, sick to death of being ruled by mullahs whose fundamentalism is an insult to human nature.

 

Protesters chant at a vigil for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died in police custody last month, at the entrance hall of the Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, in this screengrab from social media video released Wednesday. (Reuters)

"Death to the dictator!" has latterly replaced the chant of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". The 40-day anniversary of Mahsa Amini's murder called for a traditional ceremony and one was planned in her hometown of Saqez, where huge crowds assembled to the local cemetery where she is buried. Her parents were informed that they were expected by the regime to cancel the ceremony; not to do so would place Mahsa Amini's brother's life in peril, they were informed.

The ceremony proceeded as planned. Women at the Aichi Cemetery ripped their hijabs off, waving them in the air. Ten thousand protesters were reported to be part of a massive procession to her grave. Schools and universities in the northwestern region were closed in solidarity with the protest. The Kurdistan governor spoke of the situation being "completely stable". 

 

In Tehran, the downtown saw major sections of the immense grand bazaar closed, a symbolic gesture of support for the protests. Crowds clapped, shouting, "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" in the huge marketplace. "This year is a year of blood!" they chanted. "(Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) will be toppled!"

 

Iranian police arrive to disperse a protest in Tehran marking 40 days since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose arrest and death in custody sparked anti-government demonstrations and posed the biggest challenge to the Islamic Republic in over a decade. Photo: Associated Press

The Expedience and Usefulness of Sanctions

"The sanctions applied to date in response to the situation in Ukraine do not presently trigger inadmissibility [under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act]."

Most individuals have been] sanctioned under the Special Economic Measures Act due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine."

Canada Border Services Agency

"[Once Bill S-8 currently before the House of Commons becomes law], the IRPA [Immigration and Refugee Protection Act] inadmissibility grounds will align with the SEMA [Special Economic Measures Act] sanction grounds, and all individuals sanctioned pursuant to that Act will be inadmissible to Canada."

Karine Martel, CBSA spokesperson

"Although it does not trigger immediate inadmissibility the fact that someone is sanctioned is of course taken into consideration [in deciding whether to allow the individual into Canada]."

"We call on all parties to support the bill that would allow us to make this clear once [and] for all."

Maeva Proteau, director of communications for Minister of Foreign Affairs

"[It's surprising those sanctioned individuals are admissible] because it's hard to see a circumstance where it would be in the national interest to let them in."

"Many countries choose to apply these sorts of asset freezes and the like in tandem."

Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow, Center for a New American Security, Washington, D.C.

 

So, then, how effective are Canada's much-ballyhooed sanctions imposed against Russia beginning in 2014 when Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula and increasing incrementally since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as a symbol of severe displeasure in concert with the rest of the global community, unified in its condemnation of Russia's violence against a neighbouring state. When unsavoury foreigners come under sanction it is usually meant to imply they are also persona non grata.

Not so, evidently in Canada. When the Liberal government is asked for an explanation, none is forthcoming. No details, no explanations other than vague and opaque anodyne responses. A government that trumpeted its intention before coming to power that it would dedicate itself to transparency and accountability has become anything but reliable in those areas. 

The number of Russians, Ukrainians and Belorusians sanctioned by Canada total 1,533 since 2014. Most -- 1,232 individuals -- are sanctioned under the Special Economic Measures Act, according to the CBSA Of that number 912 are from Russia and 53 from Belarus while 257 are Ukrainian. Their Canadian assets are frozen under the sanctions, yet they are not automatically inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Those listed under Section 1.1 of SEMA for gross human rights violations only become inadmissible automatically. 

"Since February 2022, there have been no additions to this part of the schedule to the Russia Regulations", explained Jason Kung speaking for Foreign Affairs Canada. Questions relating to the number  of individuals sanctioned in response to the war in Ukraine that are currently barred from entry to Canada remain unanswered. "And also of these 1,500 people, how many of them have made an attempt to enter Canada, is another important question", added immigration lawyer Mario Bellissimo.

Somewhat reminiscent of the fact that Canada has also sanctioned Iranian citizens linked to the current Islamic Republic government, yet they seem to enter Canada at will, stay as long as they wish, conduct business, as well as intimidating Iranian-Canadians and without doubt engage in spying for Iran's intelligence services. The government of Canada's ineptness and casual attitude toward how to protect Canadians, the country's interests and conducting itself in concert with its G7 partners is missing the link of commitment.

And nor would the CBSA respond when it was asked whether any individuals have been refused entry at the border or whether any of the sanctioned individuals are currently in Canada. No response. Inaction, just the way the government has not bothered to stir itself over the presence of Chinese police investigators setting up shop in police stations in Canada to harass and intimidate Chinese Canadians and try to force them to return to China to stand trial for fulminating against Beijing, by threatening harm to their families in China.

The Putin regime’s attack on Ukraine is a war on democracy, human rights and the right of Ukrainians to choose their own future. Be it military, political or economic support, Canada will continue to be there for Ukraine in its time of need and hold Russia accountable. A central part of our response has been economic sanctions, to hold accountable those responsible for Russia’s aggression.

The Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, today announced that the Government will strengthen these measures by banning sanctioned Russians from entering Canada. The Minister will introduce legislative changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to ensure foreign nationals subject to sanctions under the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) are inadmissible to Canada.

These changes will allow the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to deny entry to, and remove, individuals subjected to sanctions, and will allow Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) officials to deny visas.

Once in force, these amendments to IRPA will apply to all foreign nationals subject to sanctions by Canada, and any accompanying family members. The IRPA establishes the applicable criteria for all foreign nationals and permanent residents who seek to enter the country, and defines the factors that render a person inadmissible.

Canada has sanctioned roughly 1,000 individuals from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, including Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov, and Konstantin Anatolyevich Chuychenko. For more information and the full list of individuals visit Sanctions – Russian invasion of Ukraine.

May 17, 2022 statement, Government of Canada

Deadly Russian Malice

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on screens as he speaks via a video link at the opening session of the International Crimea Platform Parliamentary summit, organized by Ukraine and Croatia, in Zagreb, on Tuesday. (Damir Sencar/AFP/Getty Images)

"Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory."

"The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation."

France, Britain, United States joint statement

 

"[The aim of a] dirty bomb [attack by Ukraine would be to blame the resulting radioactive contamination on Russia by accusing Moscow of detonating a low-grade nuclear weapon]."

"The aim of the provocation would be to accuse Russia of using a weapon of mass destruction in the Ukrainian military theatre and by that means to launch a powerful anti-Russian campaign in the world."

Russian Defence Ministry

"If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this."

"So when today the Russian Minister of Defence organizes a phone carousel and calls foreign ministers with stories about the so-called 'dirty' nuclear bomb, everyone understands who is the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukrainian National Guard soldiers fire at Russian positions with a mortar near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (Andrii Marienko/The Associated Press)

Ukrainian forces are advancing toward the Dnipro River, a counteroffensive to retake Kherson the province and the city, from Russian occupation. All the more disconcerting to the Kremlin in the wake of its announcement of the annexation of the area along with three other south-eastern areas of Ukraine. Following hard on claims that those four provinces are Russian territory, Moscow advised the world and Ukraine in particular, that any action taken to recover the territory would be construed as an 'act of war' against Russia.\, with predictble consequences including nuclear.

 

A sanctimonious charge so arse-backwardly absurd it would make a good script for a theatrical comedy lampooning Russia, if it were not so obviously the work of a land-grabbing, nation-destroying, anti-human rights national government whose invasion exploits are the stuff of nightmares. A self-righteousness so deranged that the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had the unmitigated call to  to call his counterpart ministers of France, Britain and the United States to inform them of an odious plot Ukraine was engaging in.

In fact it became almost instantly transparent that the revelation was in reverse order; that Russia is scheming to make use of a radioactive bomb of limited power and range that would be used as 'evidence' of Ukraine's willingness to begin a nuclear war between Russia and NATO, spurring Russia to self-protection, to respond in kind. Not Russia's fault, goes the plotline, if the 'neo-Nazi' government of Ukraine provoked Russia to such an extent it had little option but to reciprocate.

In a follow-up call with Russia's military Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, British Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin made it quite clear his government rejected the Russian allegations, even while taking pains to convey the sensible message that both sides continue to maintain open channels of communication as a vital commitment.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked to comment on Western skepticism of Russia's Ukraine accusations, responded "their disbelief doesn't mean there's no threat. The threat is evident." In ostensible response to which Moscow has ordered civilian evacuation of the territory in advance of the Ukrainian forces' advance. Should Russia suffer a defeat in Kherson it would represent a massive setback of the Russian 'special military invasion' agenda.

The west bank of the Dnipro River represents Russia's sole foothold of the area. That area where the Dnipro i\bisects Ukraine is a gateway to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.  

Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear plant operator, said it assumes ... the Russians to be preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at [the plant]. It said there were 174 containers at the plant's dry spent fuel storage facility, each of them containing 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel. 

"Destruction of these containers as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres of the adjacent territory."

People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on Tuesday. (Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters)

Inshallah, Lebanon

"[Following the Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020 is the city beginning to heal?] ...No, it's worse. Because [there has been] no justice. Nothing."

"There are so many families that have lost their children, their parents, their aunts, their uncles that are working really hard to do something about it [looking for answers]. But I don't know if we're going to get anywhere."

"Now we have to think twice about everything, everything, everything. It's very mind-boggling. But having said that, I still love Lebanon, and I still love living here."

"It could be the most beautiful country in the world. And, unfortunately, it's not today."

"We're fed up with saying to ourselves 'We need to be resilient'. No. We need to make changes. We need drastic changes."

"It's chaotic. It's difficult. It's a transition, hopefully, to better things."

"And I say this with parentheses -- Inshallah. Meaning' hopeful', in Arabic."

Barbara Abdeni Massaad, Author, photographer

rsz_leinterviste

Oriana Fallaci, the verbally pugilistic Italian journalist who earned an admirable reputation as a hard-nosed, intrepid journalist whom Grand Ayatollah Khomeini agreed could interview him soon after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, also wrote a novel based on her experiences in Lebanon during and after the civil war which she titled 'Inshallah'. At that time too, when Beirut had been half-destroyed and Iran sent its al-Quds division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the country to train Shi'ite Lebanese the Islamist death cult of terrorism, there was still hope for the country.  

Fallaci succumbed to the demand placed on her to wear a face-revealing burqa to interview Khomeini for the opportunity to ask him probing, accusative questions of the route he was taking Iran toward. Finally, in the face of the Ayatollah's growing irritation with the questions she posed, she declared she was tearing the 'rags' off ("I’m going to take off this stupid medieval rag right now!”). Her novel described the dismal condition of Lebanon, its Muslim sects divided, the power struggles between Lebanese Christians, Druze and Sunnis, and the inferior status of the Shi'ites.

Shi'ite Hezbollah, Iran's terrorist proxy group is pretty well in control of Lebanon now; threat, intimidation, violence, all accomplished what originally living in a state of harmonious mutual suspicion, alternating political positions in a governing-sharing agreement between Lebanon's various communities has pretty well broken under the weight of the civil war and the inability to recover from the meddling of Syria and Iran. Hezbollah recklessly stored explosive material in dilapidated storehouses in Beirut's port.

 

Deadly port explosion rocks Beirut - Splash247

The inevitable occurred when a spark led to a massive explosion destroying part of the port infrastructure, killing over 220 Beirutis, and injuring an additional 6,500 others. Two and a half years later, bereaved families are still calling for an investigation to be launched. The originally assigned judge of the Lebanese judiciary resigned amidst threats and intimidation from Hezbollah wanting to protect itself from what would be damning conclusions of its willful neglect causing death and injury.

The February 2005 bomb-assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's investigation was finally taken over by a UN special tribunal that found, as expected, Hezbollah agents to have planned the murder of the influential and respected Lebanese politician, their strings pulled by Iran.

Hezbollah's first atrocity took place when the newly-fledged terrorist group bombed the American UN military barracks on a UN peacekeeping mission, murdering 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French.

 

Over time, Hezbollah has gained in strength and influence, receiving munitions and stockpiling technologically updated missiles from Iran. It has launched attacks against Israelis and Jews internationally as Iran's terrorist proxy, and it has firmly established itself as an integrated part of the Lebanese government, while maintaining its armed forces separate and apart from the Lebanese military. It is more powerful and better armed than the Lebanese military. And under its malign influence Lebanon has faltered and become utterly dysfunctional

.

Fuel shortage plunges Lebanon into darkness

Following the blast at Beirut's port, the severely troubled country's economy has been destroyed, inflation has made life impossible for its residents; people cannot withdraw their savings from Lebanon's banking system. Some desperate civilians have taken to robbing banks to the extent of their savings, badly needed to pay for surgeries for ailing family members. Food, heating oil and medical supplies are scarce and people are desperately in need.

The country, once the pride of the Middle East, its coastal 'French Riviera' and 'Swiss Alps', the playground of beautiful landscapes that drew tourists from across the Middle East and further afield is now a pathetic remnant of its former glory. The kidnappings and hostage-taking, the ransom demands and 'prisoner' exchanges, the underground incarceration of Church of England Terry Waite among others, incrementally destroyed the country. It is now on its knees, its people facing starvation.

 

People are threatened daily by economic and political threats. Some 80,000 Lebanese left their country in 2021 representing an increase of 346 percent over 2020. Political instability, economic meltdown, has led to a massive deterioration of the quality of life -- to the extent that 63 percent of Lebanese would emigrate if the opportunity arose. UNICEF reports that Lebanese children "believe emigration is their only hope".

 

According to the United Nations, 78 percent of the population lives in poverty. Lebanese Civil War survivors (1975 to 1990) claim that the crisis of today is worse than the parlous times they experienced living in dread of shelling or sniper fire. 

 

Members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah take part in Ashura commemorations in a southern Beirut suburb. Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

 

Say It ,,, 'Declassified' -- Done!

"There doesn't have to be a process, as I understand it."

"If  you're the president of the  United States, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified."

"You're the president --you make that decision."

Donald Trump, former President of the United States of America

 

"[The] exceptional sensitivity [of the material found at Mar-a-Lago will count as an aggravating factor as prosecutors weigh whether to file charges in the case]."

"The exceptional sensitivity of these documents and the reckless response of invaluable sources and methods of U.S. intelligence capabilities concerning these foreign adversaries will certainly influence the Justice Department's determination of whether to charge Mr. Trump or others with willful retention of national defence information under the Espionage Act."

David Laufman, former senior Justice Department official 

"[Mar-a-Lago] does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information."

"[Classified documents] have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in an appropriate location."

"Accordingly, we ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago [along with any other items in that room] be preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice."

Jay Bratt, Senior Justice Department official

A man walks past boxes that were moved out of the Eisenhower Executive Office building, just outside the West Wing, inside the White House complex, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Washington.

Gerald Herbert | AP

 

Among some of the classified documents the FBI recovered from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and private club were highly sensitive intelligence reports respecting Iran and China; information that could expose intelligence-gathering methods the U.S. needs to keep secure from unauthorized eyes. Among those documents was one, perhaps more, describing Iran's missile program while others described highly sensitive intelligence highlighting China 

Multiple risks would be posed by unauthorized disclosures of information in such documents. That of people connected to U.S. intelligence efforts placed in an endangered situation, while collection methodology could be compromised. Aside from which other countries or American adversaries could retaliate for actions taken impacting on them. Among the most sensitive of the secret documents were those focusing on Iran and China.

The former president denies having done anything untoward in his possession of the documents; after all, he was the president, aspiring to repeat that performance in the next election as a personage by far the most supported by, and influential in the Republican Party. Of the documents he maintaned at is home, he explains any such documents had been declassified by himself personally for a president can declassify information "even by thinking about it".

 

Former president Donald Trump has said that documents found at Mar-a-Lago were declassified and that the FBI planted documents. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP

 

On August 8 the FBI's court-sanctioned search of Mr. Trump's home saw about 13,000 documents seized, some 103 of them classified while 18 were top secret, court papers revealed. In the course of the investigation those papers became the third batch of classified documents recovered. Boxes voluntarily sent from Ma[-a-Lago to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier were found to contain 184 classified documents, 25 if which were marked top secret.

 

One document described a foreign country's military defences including nuclear capabilities. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Tehran is close to having enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, not yet having mastered technology surrounding technologies required to deploy a nuclear warhead with a long-range delivery system. Many of the top secret papers Trump took along with him to Mar-a-Lago on leaving the White House represent analysis papers providing valuable clues to foreign adversaries.

 

Following months of negotiations Mr. Trump agreed to turn over 15 boxes of material. The boxes were found to contain 184 documents marked classified when archivists examined the box contents -- including 25 marked top secret scattered in no order throughout. Since the search of the former president's home, Mr. Trump has loftily claimed he could, as president, declassify information with no paperwork required, on his own initiative, in his singular presidential authority.

Workers move boxes onto a truck on West Executive Avenue between the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021.

Jim Lo Scalzo | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

 

"We’re literally training kids how to put on tourniquets because enough people wanted the rest of their family to know how to take care of them in case they were injured, or their kid was the only one left alive in a building."

"These people feel like they’re facing an existential threat, and they want something better for their kids — they want their kids to survive."

"[Now, though], frostbite, or cold, or malnutrition, or even just GI [gastrointestinal] related illness that goes prolonged and untreated [are becoming more common, likely due to lapses in critical infrastructure," 

"Before Russia ramped up the attacks on civilian infrastructure], we would see military-aged males, injured in combat with blast and shrapnel injuries. You would occasionally see the civilian population — the usual spread, women, children, and elderly — that may have gotten hit with just a missile, or something that hit a civilian area. Or, if it was a town that was being attacked by the Russians and they were trying to obliterate everything within the town, then it was just a spread of everybody coming in with blast and shrapnel and burn injuries."

"I think we’re starting to see a much larger scale of problems from a health standpoint that may not be a direct blast, penetrating injuries, burn injuries — it’s now population-wide in terms of loss of infrastructure problems, so I think that’s the more noticeable impact of what’s been going on lately."

"[Many victims now look like] the elderly grandmother who’s sitting in her apartment, just trying to wait out the war [and] suddenly has no power for a week, or suddenly has no clean water."

Aaron Epstein, the president of the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group 

 

"The subject matter [and] technical expertise leaves [so there’s no one to repair the damaged infrastructure. Ukrainian cities have demonstrated quite a bit of resilience so far, repairing damaged facilities and restoring access to critical services as quickly as possible], but as this goes on it will be interesting to see what continuing toll is going to be on the response."

"Critical infrastructure or civilian objects should not be targeted under the law of armed conflict, under IHL [But services and facilities that civilians rely on — like a power station] can be dual-use, they can be used by the military and then they could qualify as a military objective under IHL because by their nature and location, they’re making a contribution to military action.”

"[Military actors] should not be trying to degrade critical infrastructure, unless that’s part of your war strategy, [but if that’s the case], you run afoul of the legal principles."

Sahr Muhammadally, director for MENA & South Asia at Center for Civilians in Conflict

Ukrainian civilians queue for humanitarian aid provided by the Red Cross as people try to survive amid the wave of Russia’s missile strikes in Sviatohiersk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on October 20, 2022.

Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

 

Now that it has become clear that Vladimir Putin's military strategy to bring Ukraine to its knees -- while the Ukrainian military has been ousting Russian troops from occupied territories and is fast moving in on Kherson -- by continuing and intensifying its illegal aerial bombardments of the country's critical infrastructure; its power stations, electrical grids, potable water supply, bombing civilian targets, destroying areas right across the vast geography of Ukraine -- there are new warnings that a massive dam may be the next target.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again is calling on the West, this time to address Russia directly about the severe inadvisability of blowing up the immense Nova Kakhovka dam holding back a reservoir dominating much of southern Ukraine. Russian forces have performed the prelininary work in planting explosives within the dam. "Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster", Mr.Zelenskyy warned.

Russia did some counter-warning of its own, accusing Kyiv of firing rockets at the dam, planning ultimately to destroy it; a sign according to Ukrainian officials that Moscow may take the initiative to blow it  up and then place the blame with Kyiv. It's a tried-and-untrue method that finds favour with the Kremlin; accuse Ukraine of responsibility for the most brazen war crimes against its own people as well as Russians, that Russia itself has been engaged with.

 

A van moves along a dark street during electricity shortage, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 20, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Bursting the dam  could see a wall of water flooding settlements below, toward the city of Kherson. The Dnipro River is several kilometres wide in places. The canal system irrigating much of southern Ukraine that includes Crimea would also be ruined. Further upriver, Ukrainian historians document Soviet sappers having dynamited another huge dam with the retreat of their troops, causing floods that swept away villages and killed thousands of people, during the Second World War.

The potential of such widespread destruction, pointed out President Zelenskyy would have results "exactly the same as the use of weapons of mass destruction". Ukrainian forces are advancing along the river's west bank with the intention of regaining Kherson city and encircling thousands of Russian troops. Russia's newly appointed commander Sergei Srovikin, infamous for his command of the Russian aerial bombardment in Syria, against the regime's opponents, spoke of the situation in Kherson as "already difficult" leading Russia to "not ruling out difficult decisions".

In the area, Ukrainian troops have identified a secton of the front north of Kherson with a noticeable reduction in shellfire from Ruissian positions, about four kilometres away. Speculation among them is that the droppoff in shooting and absence of armour indicate a shortage of ammunition and equipment for Russia. "They've been shooting less starting about three weks ago. And their drones are less active", pointed out Myhailo, a soldier deployed in the area.

Vladimir Putin began a campaign of attacks with the use of cruise missiles and Iranian drones earlier in the month to destroy Ukraine's power supply before the onset of winter. Ukraine's energy infrastructure has also come under fire, but Moscow will not admit to its targeting of civilians; the aim, they claim of the "special military operation" is to degrade Ukraine's military. Calls countrywide to reduce electricity consumption alerted Ukrainians to straitened conditions ahead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a training centre of the Western Military District for mobilised reservists along with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Deputy Commander of the Airborne Troops Anatoly Kontsevoy, in Ryazan Region, Russia October 20, 2022. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

 

 

Addressng Factory Labour Shortages : Child Labour

"This practice of providing and employing underage and undocumented workers is appalling."

"Employee safety, especially the safety of children, is a top priority."

"These businesses violated the law and put these children at risk, and it will not be tolerated in Alabama."

Fitzgerald Washington, Alabama Department of Labor 

"[Hyundai intends to] sever relations [with the two Alabama supplier plants under scrutiny for underage labour] as soon as possible."

"Hyundai is pushing to stop using third party labor suppliers and oversee hiring directly."

Jose Munoz, Hyundai Motor Co. global chief operating officer

The SMART Alabama, LLC auto parts plant and Hyundai Motor Co. subsidiary, in Luverne, Alabama, U.S., July 14, 2022. Joshua Schneyer/Reuters

 Now that makes the news, doesn't it? A top automaker under investigation for deploying children in their parts manufacturing plants. It's October -- back in July Reuters revealed an investigation that led to the verification that child labour was being used at two plants in Alabama. Evidently little notice was taken. Until a second-time-over revelation that the use of child labour in American-located, Korean-controlled factories was still ongoing. 

In line with international standards, Hyundai had committed in its Human Rights Charter which also reflected its own code of conduct for suppliers that the use of child labour violated its commitment to basic human rights. Now, it is once again revealed that two plants located in Alabama, SMART Alabama and SL Alabama, both Korean-operated, were inexplicably using the labour of children as young as 12 and 13 years of age.

The company's American supply chain has thus been contaminated by the fact that refugee children from Guatemala were considered fair game in a short labour market to be employed in manufacturing plants. A kind of backwardness that's difficult to square with current labour practices. Its chief operating office is appalled, quite incredulous, shamed on behalf of his employer, Hyundai Motors. No one, evidently in the company's elite offices had any idea ...

The July investigative report by Reuturs documented children working at a metal stamping plant in rural Luverne, Alabama: SMART Alabama, LLC. Owned and operated by Hyundai. Not so smart, after all. It's where a 12-year-old was found working in the plant alongside other teen. In July, in view of the Reuters report, the Alabama state Department of Labor coordinated with federal agencies to investigate SMART Alabama.

Subsequently another investigation on child labour was launched at a second Hyundai regional supplier plant also Korean-operated: SL Alabama. There children as young as age 13 were hard at work. Mr. Munoz assured in a Reuters interview that his company has every intention to sever relations with the two supplier plants deploying underage labour "as soon as possible". Evidently there had been no reaction from either U.S. authorities or consequently Hyundai back in July; with the second revelation they're all now engaged.

A broader investigation into Hyundai's entire US. auto parts supplier network has been ordered by Mr. Munoz for the possibility that the use of child labour casts a wider web in a search for labour law violations as well as "to ensure compliance". It's normally called damage control in a very embarrassing situation condemned outright as a singularly unpalatable violation of children's rights -- to be protected and not manipulated and exploited.

In total in the United States, Hyundai has a network of dozens of mostly Korean-owned auto-parts plants supplying the company's massive vehicle assembly plant in Montgomery Alabama. Close to half of the 738,000 vehicles produced by the automaker and sold in the United States came out of its flagship 1.8 billion U.S. assembly plant last year. Recruiting or staffing firms in the region had hired Guatemalan migrant children.

 

Damage control: Visitors look at an electric global modular platform for Hyundai Ioniq 5 at an auto show in Asia. The South Korean auto giant says it intends to sever relations with the two Alabama supplier plants under scrutiny for deploying underage labour as soon as possible. — Bloomberg

 

 SL Alabama assured that it had taken "aggressive steps to remedy the situation" immediately it become aware that a subcontractor had provided underage workers. Taking immediate steps to terminate its relationship with the staffing firm, and undertake more direct control itself of the hiring process. Mr. Munoz's public address of the situation coincided with a letter from an investor group working with union pension funds, looking for a response to reports of child labour at U.S. parts suppliers while warning of potential reputational damage to the Korean automaker.

 

A sign advertising jobs stands near the SMART Alabama, LLC auto parts plant and Hyundai Motor Co. subsidiary, in Luverne, Alabama U.S. July 14, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Schneyer