Ukrainian President Zelenskyy showed the World where he
sleeps.
Russian President Putin uses a long table even when dealing
with his Inner Circle.
You can clearly see which one is mentally stable (Zelenskyy)
and which one isn’t (Putin.)
I guess those Morally Right have nothing to fear while those who are War Criminals do.
An "Unknown" Armed Drone made it 62 miles from Moscow today (500 miles into Russian Territory) and other "Unknown" Armed Drones landed in Bryansk Region, Belgorod Region, the Adygea Republic and Krasnodar Region causing some destruction.
It's nice to see the Russian War Criminals afraid for once.
It’s like when Hermann Göring, the German Air Minister, who
had bragged before World War, 2 “If any bombs fall on the Reich I will change
my name to Maier” (Maier meaning he would be a nobody.)
Putin is now a Maier.
^ 40 years ago today (February 28, 1983) The Series Finale of
MASH aired on TV and 60% of all-American Households (106 Million Americans) watched.
^
Last Thursday (February 23rd): 3 inches of snow
fell.
Last Friday (February 24th): 12 inches of snow fell.
Last Saturday (February 25th): 3 inches of snow fell.
Last Sunday (February 26th): No snow fell.
Yesterday (February 27th): 2 inches of snow fell.
Today (February 28th): 8 inches of snow is
falling.
That is 28 inches (71 cm) of snow in the past 6 days.
We are expecting more snow this Thursday, Friday and
Saturday.
Manfred Lewin
Manfred was born on September 8, 1922, in Berlin, Germany
where he lived with his Parents and Four Siblings in the predominantly Jewish
section of the city.
The Family lived in poverty in three little rooms. Manfred’s Father
was a Barber and his Mother Jenny, a Former Secretary, took care of the Family.
She often had to find other sources of food to supplement the Family’s
insufficient Jewish Food Ration Cards.
Manfred and his entire Family were arrested and being kept at
a Deportation Center in Berlin until the Germans had rounded-up enough People
to put on the Cattle Cars and sent to the Death Camps.
His Friend came and got Manfred out of the Center where he
could have gone into Hiding and survived the War, but Manfred told his Friend:
“I can't go with you. My family needs me. If I abandon them
now, I could never be free."
Manfred went back into the Deportation Center with his Family
and they were deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland on
November 29, 1942 where they were all murdered.
He was 20 years old.
^ There are many such cases as these during the Holocaust.
People who could have fought, could have hid, could have fled and survived, but
they decided to stay with their Loved Ones – knowing they would be killed.
A Mother who was selected to live as Forced Labor, but
decided to go with her Children into the Gas Chamber.
A Daughter who could have fled the country, but decided to
stay with her Elderly, Widowed Mother as they were shot and killed over an Open
Pit.
A Father who could have joined the Partisans, but decided to
stay with his Disabled Son and carried
him into the Gas Van so he wouldn’t die alone.
A Son who could have hidden, but decided to stay with his Parents
until the end and was murdered. ^
First they came for Georgia and I didn't speak out because I wasn't Georgian.
Then they came for Crimea and I didn't speak out because I
wasn't Crimean.
Now they come for Ukraine and I don't speak out because I'm
not Ukrainian.
Next they will come for Me and there won't be anyone left to
speak out.
^ Still true today as it was 1 year ago.
We must continue to give Ukraine whatever they need to defeat
Russia otherwise Putin will go after the West. ^
From the BBC:
“Northern Ireland Brexit deal: At-a-glance”
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President of the European
Commission Ursula von der Leyen have announced they have reached a new deal,
aimed at fixing post-Brexit problems in Northern Ireland. The full details of
their agreement have just been published, and we're working to get you a fuller
picture of what's been decided. Here is what we know about the agreement, named
the Windsor Framework, so far:
Green lane/red lane
Goods from Britain destined for Northern Ireland will travel
through a new "green lane", with a separate "red lane" for
goods at risk of moving onto the EU
Products coming into Northern Ireland through the green lane
would see checks and paperwork scrapped
Red lane goods destined for the EU still be subject to normal
checks
Mr Sunak said this would mean food available on the
supermarket shelves in Great Britain will be available on supermarket shelves
in Northern Ireland.
New data-sharing arrangements would be used to oversee the
new system
Where smuggling is suspected, some custom checks may still be
carried out on green lane goods
Business moving goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain
would not be required to complete export declarations
Bans on certain products - like chilled sausages - entering
Northern Ireland from Britain would be scrapped
Pets, parcels and medicines
No new requirements on moving pets from Northern Ireland to
Britain
Pet owners visiting Northern Ireland from Britain (but not
travelling on to Ireland) only have to confirm their pet is microchipped and
will not move into the EU
Under old rules, pet owners had to have vet-issued health
certificate and proof of up-to-date rabies vaccination, while dogs needed
tapeworm treatment before every visit
Medicines for use in Northern Ireland would be approved by UK
regulator, with the European Medicines Agency not having any role
Parcels will not be subject to full custom declarations
VAT and alcohol duty
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU VAT rules could be
applied in Northern Ireland
Under the new deal, Mr Sunak says the UK can make
"critical VAT" changes which include Northern Ireland
For example if the government raises or cuts alcohol duty
this will apply to pubs in Northern Ireland as well as the rest of the UK, he
said
Stormont brake
Under the protocol, some EU law applies in Northern Ireland,
but politicians had no formal way to influence the rules
New agreement introduces a "Stormont brake" which
allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to raise an objection to a new rule
The process would be triggered if 30 MLAs (representatives in
the Stormont Assembly) from two or more parties sign a petition
14 day consultation period would follow, after which, if 30
MLAs still support it, there would be a vote in the assembly
To pass, it would need support from both unionists and
nationalist representatives
The brake cannot be used for "trivial reasons" but
reserved for "significantly different" rules
Once the UK tells the EU the brake has been triggered, the
rule cannot be implemented
It can only be applied if the UK and EU agree
This new process is not subject to oversight by the European
Court of Justice oversight
The document states that: "Any dispute on this issue
would be resolved through subsequent independent arbitration according to
international, not EU, law."
The EU has its own safeguard - if Northern Ireland starts to
diverge significantly from the bloc's rules, the EU has its own power to take
"appropriate remedial measures"
Northern Ireland Bill scrapped
Government has confirmed it is ditching the Northern Ireland
Protocol Bill
The controversial legislation, introduced under ex-PM Boris
Johnson, would have given the UK the power to scrap the old protocol deal
Legal opinion published by the government says there is now
"no legal justification" for going ahead with it
^ This still seems like one big hot mess for the United Kingdom,
for Northern Ireland, for Ireland and for the 26 other EU Member Countries. ^
From Reuters:
“Turkey's NATO talks with Sweden and Finland to resume on
March 9”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday
talks with Sweden and Finland over their NATO membership bids would resume on
March 9, although he said Sweden had still not fulfilled its obligations under
a memorandum signed last year. Turkey in January cancelled talks with Sweden
and Finland on their applications after a Danish far-right political politician
burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. "My
colleagues will attend the meeting that will be held on March 9,"
Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara, adding that the meeting would be
held in Brussels.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the North
Atlantic defence alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine, but Sweden in
particular has faced unexpected objections from Turkey. Ankara accuses
Stockholm of harbouring what it considers members of terrorist groups. Sweden,
Finland and Turkey signed the memorandum on steps toward Turkish ratification
at a NATO summit in Madrid in 2022. "Unfortunately, we have not seen
satisfactory steps from Sweden on the implementation of the Madrid
memorandum," Cavusoglu said. "It is not possible for us to say
"yes" to Sweden's NATO bid before we see these steps."
The Swedish government plans to formally decide on March 9 on
a long-planned proposal to make it illegal to be part of, or to endorse, a
terrorist organisation. Stockholm aims for the legislation to enter into force
on June 1, though no date has yet been set for a parliamentary vote on the
bill.
The United States and other NATO countries are hoping that
the two Nordic countries become members of the alliance at a NATO summit due to
be held in July 11 in Lithuania's capital Vilnius. While Ankara has signaled it
could approve Finland's application, it has given no assurances that it will
give Sweden's bid the green light by then. A Swedish foreign ministry
spokesperson confirmed that talks with Turkey would resume on March 9, saying they
would be held at civil-servant level.
Hungary is the only other NATO member not to have ratified
the Nordic countries' applications. Its parliament is scheduled to start
debating the matter this week. Budapest said on Saturday a vote may take place
in the second half of March.
^ This is not about supporting Terrorists as Erdogan says it
is about Turkey’s Erdogan and Hungary’s Orban supporting Putin and his Russian
Nazi Zs.
That is the only reason Orban and Erdogan refuse to allow
Finland and Sweden to join NATO after all 26 other NATO Member Countries have
officially voted to let them join.
Orban and Erdogan are Putin Lackeys who support his War
Crimes and Murder of Innocent Men, Women and Children while at the same time
getting his Money and Materials.
It is really sad to see Hungary and Turkey doing this. I
would rather see Hungary and Turkey kicked-out or voluntarily leave NATO and
Sweden and Finland join in their place. ^
The Rosenstrasse Demonstration 1943
Background Between
February 27 and March 6, 1943, a group of up to 200 non-Jewish Germans
demonstrated outside the local Jewish community building at Rosenstraße 2-4, in
Berlin. There, German police had incarcerated around 2,000 Jews—mostly Jewish
males married to non-Jewish partners and the male children of these so-called
mixed marriages.
(Portrait of Margot (Miriam) and
Gerhard (Gad) Beck)
Gerhard and Margot's mother came
from a Protestant family. She met her future husband when she went to work in
the telephone exchange at his company. She converted to Judaism in 1920. The
couple married in 1920, and in 1923 had their twins Gerhard and Margot. Both
Gerhard and Margot would become active in Jewish youth movements, and took on
Hebrew names (Gad and Miriam). On
February 17, 1943, Gad was ordered to report to the temporary internment camp
established at a former Jewish community building on the Rosenstrasse. He was
detained there until March 6, when the group was released following a
demonstration. Later, in the spring of 1943 Gad joined the Chug Halutzi, a
clandestine group of Jewish youth in Berlin, most of whom were living in
hiding. Because Gad had contacts among both Christians and homosexuals, he was
able to arrange hiding places for members of his group.
(Deportation of Jews from Berlin,
1941-1943)
The non-Jewish family members of
those incarcerated in the Rosenstraße believed that the Germans would deport
their loved ones to the east. They based their belief on recent experiences of
deportation operations and the fact that in this same period the German police
rounded up and deported approximately 7,000 Jews from Berlin. Their non-violent
demonstration in the freezing cold outside the Rosenstraße community center
aimed to prevent this deportation.
The Rosenstraße protest took
place in the context of two turning points in Nazi Germany's wars: the war
against the Allies and the war against the Jews of Europe. The first turning
point occurred on the military front, with the catastrophic German defeat
at Stalingrad [today: Volgograd, Russian Federation]. Stalingrad raised the
first significant doubts among the German people that Germany could win the
war. The second turning point was the decision of the Nazi leadership,
in the wake of deporting the remainder of the German Jews to killing centers,
to manage the domestic problem of Jews in “mixed marriages” and the children of
such marriages. At the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942, action
again this small group of “mixed-marriage Jews” had been deferred until after
Germany victory. This decision was made out of concern that the deportation of
Jewish spouses and half-Jewish children would inspire unrest among non-Jewish
relatives and, possibly, among broader sections of the German population.
The Factory Action
[Fabrik-Aktion] and the Rosenstraße protest
Factory Action The
incarceration of Jewish spouses and Mischlinge in the Rosenstraße coincided
with the last major roundup of German Jews for deportation to Auschwitz, an
operation known as the “Factory Action” (Fabrik-Aktion). During this operation
the Gestapo deported some 11,000 Jews to Auschwitz in the first weeks of March
alone. From the outset of the Factory Action, however, the Gestapo
intended to spare the Jewish spouses and Mischlinge and move them into
forced-labor camps around Berlin and other major German cities. There were some
8,800 Jews residing in Berlin who were spouses or children in “mixed
marriages.” These Jews were categorized as “exempted” Jews. The Gestapo did not
intend to deport these “exempted” Jews to Auschwitz or to anywhere else outside
the German Reich. Before dawn on Saturday, February 27, 1943, the
Gestapo initiated their massive action. German police herded Jews, pulled from
their jobs and homes or snatched off the streets, into trucks that transported
them to designated assembly points. The German police incarcerated some 2,000
people in the Jewish community building at Rosenstraße 2-4, and began to check
their papers to determine if they qualified as “exempted” Jews.
Protest Family members
waited in vain for the return of their spouses during the day on February 27,
1943. As word spread that some of the “mixed-marriage” Jews were in the
Rosenstraße, German partners and siblings, mostly women, gathered on the street
outside of the Jewish community center building. They hoped to find out
information about their loved ones and to seek comfort from others in a similar
situation . The building itself had been cordoned off by municipal police
officers. Over the next days, the crowd swelled to between 150 and 200 persons
demanding information on their loved ones.
Hoping to prevent what they
believed to be an impending deportation to Auschwitz, the small crowd of
civilians yelled, chanted, or remained silent but standing on the street, even
when threatened with lethal force. Because of the protest's unusual character
in Nazi Germany, news of the demonstration spread throughout the country and
eventually, to the international press. In addition to uncertainty about their
immediate fate, those held inside the Rosenstraße community building had
insufficient food and inadequate sleeping and sanitary facilities. As the
spouses and other family members held their vigil outside the building, Gestapo
officials continued to review papers of each internee, releasing the first
“mixed-marriage” Jews as early as March 1. The review and release process
continued until March 12, 1943, well after the family members had left the
street on March 6.
In all, the Gestapo deported to
Auschwitz 25 persons of the approximately 2,000 incarcerated in the Rosenstraße
concentration center. The Gestapo designated all of them as protective custody (Schutzhäftlinge).
Auschwitz camp authorities processed them into the camp as prisoners without a
selection process.
Fate of the Rosenstraße
Internees After Release Release from the Rosenstraße did not end either
fear or suffering for those interned there. The Gestapo followed through with
its intention to deport the “mixed-marriage” Jews capable of work to
forced-labor camps in Berlin and elsewhere in the Reich. German police
authorities returned to pick up the released men and teenage boys on the day
after their release.
Perceptions of the Rosenstraße
incident The Factory Action occurred less than a month after the surrender
of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. The timing gave the Rosenstraße incident
a perceived and remembered threat of public unrest and turmoil that German
authorities feared would test the tenuous wartime morale in Germany. Although
on occasion individual “mixed-marriage” Jews were later deported and killed,
the Nazi regime generally maintained its policy, decided upon at Wannsee, to
defer deportation of “exempted” Jews to killing centers until after a German
victory. Neither those incarcerated at the Rosenstraße nor their family
members, who gathered on the street in the bitter late February cold, could be
certain of this, however. Their experience of deportations, including those of
the ongoing Factory Action, taught that those seized were transported on trains
to locations from which they never returned. Nor could the women and children
gathered outside on the street be certain that the German police would be
reluctant to open fire on German civilians for reasons of public relations.
There had never been a demonstration on behalf of Jews in wartime Nazi
Germany—there was no experience to draw upon. Hence, nothing detracts
from the courage of those women who, for the one and only time in Nazi Germany,
stood face-to-face with armed municipal police officers, in the hopes of seeing
their loved ones.
Conclusion The unique
circumstances of the Rosenstraße incident and its timing in relation to the
deportation of Jews not in “mixed marriages” from Berlin have encouraged the
development of a narrative about the protest. In this narrative, the temporary
release of the “mixed-marriage” Jews from the Rosenstraße and the decision of
the Gestapo not to deport them to Auschwitz to be killed are attributed to the
demonstration of the women. Also in this narrative, the number of women
demonstrating ranges up to 6,000. In fact, the Gestapo never intended to deport
“mixed-marriage” Jews and fully intended to incarcerate these Jews in
forced-labor camps in the Reich. Gestapo officials carried out their plans
without reference to the events on the street outside the Rosenstraße Jewish
community building between February 27 and March 6, 1943.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-rosenstrasse-demonstration-1943
From the BBC:
“Mardi Gras: Australia's PM Anthony Albanese first to join
march”
(Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) reacts as he
attends the 45th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Oxford Street in
Sydney, Australia, 25 February 2023.)
Anthony Albanese has become Australia's first sitting prime
minister to take part in Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade - one of
the biggest events of its kind in the world. Huge crowds packed the city's
Oxford Street as more than 12,000 participants and 200 floats passed by. It is
the first time the parade has been held in its traditional form since 2019 due
to Covid restrictions. "This is a celebration of modern Australia,"
Mr Albanese said. He added that it was "unfortunate" that he was the
country's first leader to march in the parade while in office. "People
want to see that their government is inclusive and represents everyone no
matter who they love, no matter what their identity, no matter where they
live." Penny Wong, the first openly gay female in Australia's parliament,
also took part in the celebrations.
The presence of the prime minister, who has marched in the
parade in the past as an MP, was greeted with cheers but his critics have
accused him of pandering to a minority that's hijacking Australia's social
agenda. Opposition MP, Barnaby Joyce, criticised Mr Albanese for attending a
party instead of dealing with a crime crisis in Alice Springs - a remote town
in Australia's Northern Territory. Mr Albanese wasn't the only politician to
attend Mardi Gras - members of other parties, including the Greens and
Liberals, also came to show their support.
It's not the first time an Australian prime minister has
attended the event - Malcolm Turnbull was present in 2016 but did not march. The
Mardi Gras parade has been running since 1978 and grew out of a protest marking
the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots - an uprising by members of the LGBT
community in New York more than 50 years ago. For the past two years the parade
has been held as a seated event at the Sydney Cricket Ground due to the
pandemic. This year's event coincides in Sydney with WorldPride, which promotes
LGBTQ+ rights globally.
Other world leaders who have taken part in pride parades in
the past include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his former New
Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern.
^ It’s great to see Politicians and Officials participate in
all sorts of events whether they are Gay, Straight, Black, White, Hispanic,
Asian, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Male or Female. ^
Putin lives in Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales.
Most things in Russia are made as a Potemkin Village
(Russian: потёмкинские деревни) and has for Centuries. That’s when the outside
looks tough or good, but just below the surface it is weak, moldy, falling
apart or not even finished.
Russia’s Modern Military is a Potemkin Village (you know it’s
bad when 7 months into a War you planned and started you have lost most of your
Regular Military and have to Mobilize the very Young, the very Old and the
Disabled to save face.)
That is on top of Russia having to use weapons from the 1940s
-1980s.
That is on top of Russia using World War 1 Trench Warfare
Tactics instead of Modern Warfare Tactics.
Many other things across Russia are Potemkin Villages: Their
Apartment Buildings (most- Khrushchevka or Russian: хрущёвка - were built from the 1960s (that’s why they
are named after Nikita Khrushchev) until the 1980s and were pre-fab, low cost
dwellings meant to only last 20 years at the most, but the Soviet Union
collapsed in 1991 (32 years ago) and they are still the most widely lived in
dwellings across Russia meaning they are falling down and deteriorating since
the oldest ones are 62 years old and the youngest ones are 32 years old and
they were only meant to last 20 years.
I wish Putin and Russia would wake up from their Fairy Tale
and realize the reality (War Crimes, Mass Murder) they are committing on
innocent Ukrainian Men, Women and Children.
Today (February 24, 2023) is the 1 year Anniversary of the start of Russia’s War in Ukraine here are pictures of different aspects of the War: Ukrainian Civilians, Ukrainian Pets and Animals, Politicians Supporting Ukraine, Ukrainian Soldiers, Damage of Ukrainian Towns and Cities, and Ukrainian Soldiers that have been killed.
If you have “Ukraine War Fatigue” think about the Ukrainian
Men, Women and Children that are sick and tired of having to deal with the War
– a War only the Russians want.
They say a picture speaks a 1,000 words so hopefully we will
see the true horror and devastation that Ukrainians are dealing with because of
the Russians and we continue to support Ukraine.
Here are the Ukrainian Civilians.
Today (February 24, 2023) is the 1 year Anniversary of the start of Russia’s War in Ukraine here are pictures of different aspects of the War: Ukrainian Civilians, Ukrainian Pets and Animals, Politicians Supporting Ukraine, Ukrainian Soldiers, Damage of Ukrainian Towns and Cities, and Ukrainian Soldiers that have been killed.
If you have “Ukraine War Fatigue” think about the Ukrainian
Men, Women and Children that are sick and tired of having to deal with the War
– a War only the Russians want.
They say a picture speaks a 1,000 words so hopefully we will
see the true horror and devastation that Ukrainians are dealing with because of
the Russians and we continue to support Ukraine.
Here are the Ukrainian Soldiers.
1 Year since Russia’s War in Ukraine and here are the Ukrainian Oblasts (Provinces/States) that are Partially-Occupied by the Russians:
Russian Occupation of Kharkiv
Oblast
Map showing the
various zones of Russian Occupation in Kharkiv Oblast
Yellow
= Ukrainian Controlled and Never Occupied
Pink
= Russian Occupied
Cyan
= Russian Occupied Recaptured by Ukraine
Out
of 55 Total Settlements:
Russia
Formerly Occupied: 23 Settlements
Russia
Currently Occupies: 1 Settlement
Russia
Never Occupied: 31 Settlements (including the City of Kharkiv)
Russian Occupation of Kherson
Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kherson Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied, but Recaptured
by Ukraine
Out of 36 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 23
Settlements (including the City of
Kherson)
Russia Currently Occupies:
8 Settlements
Russia Never Occupied: 5 Settlements
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kherson Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied, but
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 22 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 1
Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies: 17 Settlements
(including the City of Melitopol)
Russia Never Occupied: 4 Settlements
Russian Occupation of Donetsk Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kherson Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied Since
2022
Dark Red – Russian Occupied Since
2014
Cyan = Russian Occupied, but
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 74 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 18 Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies:
32 Settlements (including the Cities of
Donetsk and Mariupol)
Russia Never Occupied: 24 Settlements
Russian Occupation of Luhansk
Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kherson Oblast
Pink = Russian Occupied Since
2022
Dark Red – Russian Occupied Since
2014
Cyan = Russian Occupied, but
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 23 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 3 Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies:
19 Settlements (including the City of
Luhansk)
Russia Never Occupied: 1 Settlement
Russian Occupation of Mykolaiv
Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kherson Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied, but
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 17 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 12 Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies: 1 Settlement
Russia Never Occupied: 4 Settlements
1 Year since Russia’s War in
Ukraine and here are the Ukrainian Oblasts (Provinces/States) that are were
once Partially - Occupied by the Russians:
Russian Occupation of
Chernihiv Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kharkiv Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 17 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 10 Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies:
0 Settlements
Russia Never Occupied: 7 Settlements
Russian Occupation of Kyiv
Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kharkiv Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 23 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 15
Settlements (including Bucha and the
Chernobyl Nuclear Plant)
Russia Currently Occupies:
0 Settlements
Russia Never Occupied: 8 Settlements
(including the Capital Kyiv)
Russian Occupation of Odesa Oblast
Out
of 19 Total Settlements:
Russia
Formerly Occupied: 1 Settlements
Russia
Currently Occupies: 0 Settlements
Russia
Never Occupied: 18 Settlements (including
the City of Odesa)
Russian Occupation of Sumy
Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kharkiv Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 11 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 8 Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies: 0
Settlements
Russia Never Occupied: 3 Settlements
Russian Occupation of Zhytomyr
Oblast
Map showing the various zones of
Russian Occupation in Kharkiv Oblast
Yellow = Ukrainian Controlled and
Never Occupied
Pink = Russian Occupied
Cyan = Russian Occupied
Recaptured by Ukraine
Out of 4 Total Settlements:
Russia Formerly Occupied: 2 Settlements
Russia Currently Occupies: 0
Settlements
Russia Never Occupied: 2 Settlements
Russian Occupation of Crimea:
Out of 5 Total Settlements:
Russia Currently Occupies: 5 Settlements (including the Cities of Sevastopol,
Yalta and Simferopol)
From the DW:
“UN court orders Azerbaijan to end Nagorno-Karabakh roadblock”
Armenia had told the court 120,000 people were running short
of food, medicine and fuel due to the blockade of the disputed territory. The
Lachin corridor is the only road between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The International
Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ordered Azerbaijan to end its blockade in
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The court reached the legally binding
ruling after a 13-2 vote. Since mid-December, a group of Azerbaijanis have
blocked the Lachin corridor, which is the only road into Nagorno-Karabakh from
Armenia. The group cited illegal mining causing environmental damage as the
reason for its protest blocking access to the region. The two countries in the
Caucasus fought over the disputed region in the 1990s and again in 2020.
Following the latter of the two wars, a Russian-brokered truce saw Armenia cede
territories to Azerbaijan. Earlier this month, Armenia offered a peace plan to
Azerbaijan, aiming to definitively resolve the territorial dispute.
What did the ICJ say about the blocked Lachin corridor? "Azerbaijan shall, pending the
final decision in this case... take all measures at its disposal to ensure
unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor in
both directions," presiding judge Joan Donoghue said. "The
disruption on the Lachin Corridor has impeded the transfer of persons of
Armenian national and ethnic origin," she said. Donoghue said that
there had been "shortages of food, medicine and other life-saving medical
supplies" in Nagorno-Karabakh due to the roadblock. She added that there
was a "risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused." The
court also pointed to a 2021 ruling in which UN judges ordered both states to
do everything possible not to escalate the conflict. Armenian Foreign
Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said Yerevan welcomed the ruling that "Azerbaijan
must take all measures to end its blockade and ensure unimpeded movement of
persons." "We are also pleased to see truth prevail as the Court
rejected in full Azerbaijan's counter request."
What are the accusations against Azerbaijan? Armenia last month told the court
that some 120,000 people had been running short of food, medicine and fuel due
to the blockade, adding that people could not be transported to area hospitals.
Yerevan also accused Azerbaijan of committing "ethnic cleansing"
in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku denied the allegations and filed a
counter-claim against Yerevan, accusing Armenia of laying landmines and
"murdering and maiming Azerbaijanis." In its Wednesday ruling, the
ICJ said that Baku did not show that the landmines specifically targeted
Azerbaijanis.
^ The Blockade should be ended. ^
https://www.dw.com/en/un-court-orders-azerbaijan-to-end-nagorno-karabakh-roadblock/a-64791480
From Military.com:
“Inflation woes caused major financial issues for wounded
vets in 2022”
Nearly two-thirds of young disabled veterans faced
significant financial problems in the past year despite improving employment
prospects for the group, according to a new report released by the Wounded
Warrior Project on Wednesday. Of the roughly 19,000 veterans surveyed by the
group, more than 12,000 (64%) said they “couldn’t make ends meet at some point
in the past 12 months.” More than 80% said that rising inflation costs created
financial hardship for their families. “It’s not a surprise to us,” said Jen
Silva, chief program officer for WWP. “Operationally, we had already seen big
jumps in the emergency financial assistance requests to us from warriors and
family members. So, the data just confirms what we’re already seeing.” Officials
say the new survey from Wounded Warrior Project shows a need for more
transition programs focused on women.
Group officials said they spent about five times more in
financial aid to members in 2022 than they did in 2021, during the height of
the coronavirus pandemic in America. That happened even though the unemployment
rate for the group fell from a high of 13.4% in 2021 to just under 7% in 2022
(still almost three times higher than the rate for all American veterans, and
twice that of the general population). About 27% of individuals surveyed said
they had steady employment but still “didn’t earn enough.”
Because the annual survey is restricted only to WWP members,
it is not necessarily reflective of the entire Iraq and Afghanistan War
population or all injured veterans. However, officials said the findings do
reflect trends within the group’s 165,000 members, who are among the most
active users of Veterans Affairs benefits and services. WWP leaders said they
use the findings to guide programming and priorities for future years. In the
case of financial aid, the group is already bracing for continued need this
year. “We’re expecting the requests to be about the same,” Silva said. “It
doesn’t seem to be getting any better yet.” Mental health issues (48%) and
struggles with transitioning military skills to civilian jobs (37%) were the
top self-reported problems with finding better employment, according to the
survey. Despite those challenges, the increased financial strain does not
appear to be causing a surge in mental health issues, researchers noted. About
240,000 veterans nationwide were looking for work last month but unable to find
steady employment.
About 75% of individuals surveyed reported dealing with
post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. More than one in four
had suicidal thoughts in the past year. Those figures were all on par with
previous years. But WWP members were more likely than their peers to seek help
for those issues, with 66% saying that they saw a mental health professional at
least once in the past year. About 40% reported four or more sessions in the
past 12 months. The full survey is available on the WWP web site.
^ This may only poll those within Wounded Warrior Project and
not all Veterans, but even that sub-section shows a major issue within the
Veteran Community that we all need to address and fix. No one who risked
everything, including their lives, for us should have to struggle in any way. ^
From the BBC:
“Ukraine war: Why so many Russians turn a blind eye to the
conflict”
(A woman walks past a stand with an image of a Russian
serviceman and the inscription reading "The Motherland we defend" at
a street exhibition of military-themed posters in central Saint Petersburg on
February 17, 2023.)
In the weeks leading up to Russia's invasion, I would walk
for hours in the central Moscow district of Zamoskvorechiye, where I had lived
and worked in the BBC office for seven years. An unspoiled and peaceful part of
the city, for me it embodies Russia's complex present and past.
For centuries Muscovites have come here to build homes and
businesses and get on quietly with their lives, leaving their rulers to pursue
greater ambitions on a bigger stage where ordinary Russians have never had a
part to play. It is bordered by the Moskva river and the Kremlin on one side,
and on the other by imposing Stalinist apartment buildings and 21st Century
skyscrapers on the noisy Sadovoye ring road. A maze of narrow streets echo the
past, dotted with churches and aristocratic mansions from the 19th Century.
Bolshaya Ordinka street takes its name from Tatar-Mongol rule, hundreds of years
before, when emissaries would come to collect tributes from Moscow's princely
leaders.
I was there last February when I was phoned by a friend, born
in Ukraine's second-biggest city Kharkiv, who now worked in Moscow. Was Putin
really going to start a war with Ukraine, he asked. Neither of us wanted to
believe it. But surrounded by reminders of Russia's often relentlessly violent
past I felt war was now inevitable. My daily walks were my way of saying
goodbye to a world, and perhaps even a country, that could never be the same
again.
(Russians are seen attempting to leave their country to avoid
a military call-up for the Russia-Ukraine war as queues have formed at the
Kazbegi border crossing in the Kazbegi municipality of Stepantsminda, Georgia
on September 27, 2022)
Hundreds of thousands of Russians have left Russia, including
me and my BBC Russian colleagues. But for the majority who have stayed in
Russia, life outwardly is pretty much the same as it always was. Especially in
the big cities. In Zamoskvorechiye, most of the shops, cafes, the businesses
and the banks are still open. Many of the hipster journalists and IT
specialists may have left but others have replaced them. Shoppers complain
about rising prices, but local alternatives have replaced some imported goods.
(You can still meet for coffee and the logo looks similar,
but the Starbucks chain is long gone)
Bookshops still have a wide variety of titles, although books
deemed inappropriate are sold in plastic covers. The popular car-sharing
service still works, but the cars are now largely Chinese-made. International
sanctions have not brought Russia to the brink of 1990s-style economic
collapse. But, as Belfast-based Russian academic Aleksandr Titov has observed,
Russia is nonetheless living through a crisis.
It is a slow-burning crisis, but look closely and there are
signs of it everywhere. In Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border and just
80km (50 miles) from the now war-torn city of Kharkiv, local people are now
used to convoys of military trucks roaring towards the front line. If they are
troubled by Russia bombing a city where many have friends and relatives, then
they're trying not to show it.
(Most Russians either do not know or do not want to know what their military has done to Ukraine's second biggest city Kharkiv)
Cheery street
festivals organised by the local governor are well attended, a friend tells me.
But local doctors are leaving their jobs in droves, unable to cope with the
numbers of war-wounded being brought for treatment in local hospitals.
Residents feel abandoned and angry in the little frontier
town of Shebekino, where cross-border shelling has become a daily reality. One
local family visiting St Petersburg were shocked to find nothing had changed
while their own lives had been turned upside down. In Pskov, near the Estonian
and Latvian borders, the atmosphere is gloomy and everyone pretends the war has
nothing to do with them, I am told. Pskov is home to the 76th Guards Air
Assault Division, now notorious for the war crimes its troops are accused of
carrying out in Bucha, outside Kyiv. A bus service has started up connecting
the city to the local cemetery where growing numbers of soldiers killed in
Ukraine are being buried. Under a bridge someone has daubed PEACE in big red
letters.
(When the BBC visited this cemetery near Pskov there were
dozens of fresh graves for Russian paratroopers)
On a train heading for Petrozavodsk, near the Finnish border,
a friend meets a group of teenagers playing a "Name that city" game. Someone
mentions Donetsk: Is it in Russia or Ukraine? None of them are sure. It has
been occupied and annexed illegally by their government. What do they think
about the war? It's nothing to do with them. Petrozavodsk appears to have
returned to its grim past. Empty shelves, no foreign brands, unaffordably high
prices.
Do Russians really support the brutality being carried out in
Ukraine in their name, or are they pretending it's not happening to survive? From
fleeting impressions and conversations it is hard to draw firm conclusions.
Sociologists and pollsters have tried to gauge opinion, but there is no freedom
of speech or information in Russia so it is impossible to tell if people are
being honest.
Polls suggest the majority of Russians, if not supporting the
war, certainly do not oppose it. This has prompted angry debates among Russians
abroad. Many who study and report on Russia, me included, believe a small
percentage of people actively support the war, and a small percentage actively
oppose it.
Most ordinary Russians are in the middle, trying to make
sense of a situation they didn't choose, don't understand and feel powerless to
change. Could they have stopped it? Probably yes, if more people had stood up
for their freedom and challenged state TV propaganda about trumped up threats
from the West and Ukraine. Many Russians chose to stay away from politics and
let the Kremlin decide for them.
But keeping your head down means making very troubling moral
compromises. To keep the war from their door, Russians have to pretend this
isn't an expansionist invasion, and must close their eyes to the Ukrainians who
are killed and wounded in their tens of thousands and driven from their homes
in their millions by what the Kremlin calls its "special military
operation".
(Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a
Putin ally, has blessed Russia's war effort)
Russians must accept it's normal for soldiers to go into
schools and tell their children war is a good thing. That it's normal for
priests to support the war and stop praying for peace. That it doesn't matter
they can no longer travel or be part of a broader world. That the Kremlin was
right to block the majority of independent media sites they used to read. That
a sledgehammer is now a positive symbol of Russian power in executions captured
on camera and posted by MPs on Twitter. And that it's normal to go to jail for
years for saying what you think about the war, whether you're a councillor or a
journalist.
Why Russians do not protest is perhaps better explained by
Russian history and not opinion polls. Ever since he came to power, President
Vladimir Putin has made it no secret that he wants to rebuild Russia and
restore its position for the world to respect and reckon with. In speeches and
essays he has made clear his belief Russia occupies a unique place in the world
as part of both the East and West. Russia has its own traditions, religion, and
its own ways of doing things. Russians need order and control, and demand
respect.
(A family watches a TV broadcast of Russian President
Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address in Moscow on February 21,
2023)
This message has echoed down the centuries and brooks no
dissent or prospect for change. It's a chokehold - to use a judo term from his
favourite sport. This Putin vision comes with a price: Russians have paid with
their freedom; Ukrainians are paying with their lives. Russia has opened up at
times after moments of calamity and catastrophe. After defeat in Afghanistan in
1989 came the Gorbachev era. Defeat against Japan in 1905 was followed by
constitutional reform, and after defeat in the Crimean war in 1856 came
emancipation of the serfs. One pattern identified by pollsters is that most
Russians say they would support peace talks to end the fighting. But what kind
of guarantees they would give independent Ukraine is not yet clear.
Sooner or later, that will need to be answered and Russians
will have to confront what their country has done.
^ The World (including the then Soviet Union) did not accept
when the Germans claimed "they didn't know" about the War Crimes
their Government, Military and People committed from 1933-1945.
The World cannot accept when Russians claim or will claim
"they didn't know" about the War C
We must treat the Russian Nazis as we treated the German
Nazis (well maybe more severely since many German Nazis were allowed to live
free and openly.) ^
