US Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker 5 Years Behind Schedule, $2Bln Over Budget
Sputnik – 07.05.2024
WASHINGTON – The US Coast Guard’s proposed next generation polar icebreaker to reestablish and maintain a strong US presence in the Arctic Ocean is at least five years behind schedule and $2 bln over budget with many design and shipbuilding problems still unresolved, a senior Biden administration official and a new report told Congress.
“The PSC [Polar Security Cutter] program is now years behind the original schedule, without having attained the level of maturity we require prior to authorizing the start of construction,” Department of Homeland Security Deputy Under Secretary for Management Randolph Alles told the US House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security.
The project had suffered from the general lack of US experience designing and building polar icebreakers and its prime contractor VT Halter Marine suffered from organizational instability and has undergone managerial restructuring following its acquisition by Bollinger, a competitor shipyard in 2022, Alles said.
In addition, the design of the Polar Security Cutter is more complex and is taking more than three years longer than expected – delaying delivery of the lead ship by about five years, Alles said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a new report in which it concluded that the program’s costs increased by more than $2 billion due to these challenges.
Even with a projected 39% increase, procurement costs still appear to still be significantly underestimated because the actual ship design is about 35% larger in terms of light-ship displacement than the government’s original notional design, the GAO said.
On April 24, US Coast Guard Vice Commandant Steven Poulin said that the United States is losing ground in the Arctic to its near-peer competitors Russia and China because of a lack of icebreaking capability, but he was optimistic the situation will improve in the future.
Russia issues military ultimatum to UK
UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey leaves the Russian Foreign Ministry, in Moscow, Russia. © Sputnik / Ilya Pitalev
RT | May 6, 2024
Moscow will retaliate against British targets in Ukraine or elsewhere if Kiev uses UK-provided missiles to strike Russian territory, the Foreign Ministry told London’s ambassador on Monday.
Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the ministry following an interview by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron with Reuters last week, in which he said Ukraine has the right to use long-range missiles sent by the UK to strike deep inside Russia.
”Casey was warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory could be any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the meeting.
The US and its allies had previously qualified their deliveries of long-range weapons to Kiev by saying they could only be used on territories that Ukraine claims as its own – Crimea, the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Cameron’s statements to the contrary “de facto recognized his country as a party to the conflict.”
Russia understands Cameron’s comments as “evidence of a serious escalation and confirmation of London’s increasing involvement in military operations on the side of Kiev,” the ministry added.
Casey was urged to “think about the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps from London and to immediately refute in the most decisive and unequivocal manner the bellicose provocative statements of the head of the Foreign Office.”
Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an exercise to test the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. President Vladimir Putin ordered the drills after “provocative statements and threats” by Western officials, the military said.
French Ambassador Pierre Levy was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry. Moscow has not yet disclosed the details of the meeting.
Macron deployed French Foreign Legion to Ukraine, claims former US official
By Ahmed Adel | May 6, 2024
Contrary to previous claims that NATO has no operational plans for Ukraine, former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Stephen Bryen claims that France already has boots on the ground in Ukraine. His revelation comes as NATO has hypocritically outlined two red lines that would justify intervention in the Ukraine War even though France has already committed troops and has thus escalated the conflict without provocation.
“France has sent its first troops officially to Ukraine,” said former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Stephen Bryen in an article published by Asia Times.
Bryen further wrote that forces were mobilised “in support of the Ukrainian 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade in Slavyansk.”
The soldiers would have come from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, one of the main components of the French Foreign Legion. French authorities have not yet commented on the matter.
“These troops are being posted directly in a hot combat area and are intended to help the Ukrainians resist Russian advances in Donbas. The first 100 are artillery and surveillance specialists,” Bryen argued.
According to him, around 1,500 soldiers from the French Foreign Legion are expected to arrive in Ukraine in the near future.
The former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense wondered about the “Russian red line on NATO involvement in Ukraine” or if “the Russians see this as initiating a wider war beyond Ukraine’s borders?”
At the same time, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on May 5 that NATO — “in a very confidential way and without an official statement — established at least two red lines, beyond which there could be direct intervention by the alliance in the conflict in Ukraine.” The newspaper also stressed that NATO does not plan to send its military contingent to Ukraine immediately.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently clarified that he did not rule out the possibility of NATO sending troops from Europe to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Macron’s statement as “very dangerous,” which was also criticised by French opposition parties and by several NATO members, including Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia.
According to La Repubblica, the first “red line” revolves around the possibility of Russia penetrating Kiev’s defence line and refers to the “direct or indirect involvement of third parties” in the conflict. This would happen when Ukrainian forces “can no longer fully control” the border, which would create conditions for the Russian military to penetrate the corridor between Ukraine and Belarus.
As the newspaper suggests, “then Minsk will be directly involved in a military dispute,” and “its troops and arsenal will be of decisive importance for Moscow.”
The second “red line,” according to the outlet, “implies a military provocation against the Baltic States or Poland or a targeted attack on Moldova.”
In addition, Western authorities were deeply concerned about the situation at the front and the “unfavourable conditions” for Kiev.
Russia has repeatedly stated that NATO is directly involved in the conflict, supplying weapons and training Ukrainian forces. According to Moscow, NATO, whose activities near Russia’s borders have intensified to unprecedented levels, are aimed at confrontation. The Kremlin has continuously clarified that Russia is not threatening anyone and would not attack anyone but would not ignore actions potentially dangerous to its interests.
Macron is evidently testing Moscow’s resolve and limits by deploying the Foreign Legion, foreigners in the French military who will be entitled to French citizenship after three years of service. This is, according to Bryen, for two reasons: So Macron can “act like a tough guy without encountering much home opposition” and as a petty revenge for “French troops, almost all from the Legion, getting kicked out of Sahelian Africa and replaced by Russians” which has resulted in France losing “influence” and harmed “overseas mining and business interests.”
Most importantly, though, especially in light of the two red lines that were imposed, how will NATO react to Macron’s deployment of the French Legion since the decision was made without NATO backing? Bryen suggests that “the French cannot claim support from NATO under its famous Article 5, the collective security component of the NATO Treaty” and that “Should the Russians attack French troops outside of Ukraine it would be justified because France has decided to be a combatant, and forcing an Article 5 vote would seem to be difficult if not impossible.”
The two red flags outlined by NATO do not include if French-flagged troops are killed by Russian forces, meaning if Macron’s hope is to drag the entire alliance into conflict with Russia, it will not succeed, demonstrating once again his desperation to keep France relevant in the international scenario after Russia humiliated the French president’s neo-colonial agenda in Africa.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
NATO Steadfast Defender Drills Indicate Preparation for ‘Potential Conflict’ With Russia
Sputnik – 04.05.2024
MOSCOW – NATO’s large-scale Steadfast Defender drills indicate that the alliance is preparing for a “potential conflict” with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.
NATO kicked off Steadfast Defender 24 in January. The war games are running through May and include over 90,000 troops from all 32 member states. During the drills, the allies plan to test out a conflict scenario against a “near-peer adversary” in accordance with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that an attack on one ally is considered an attack against the entire NATO and allows for the provision of appropriate assistance.
“Right now, NATO is conducting its largest drills since the Cold War, Steadfast Defender, near the Russian border. According to their scenario, using all the tools, including the hybrid ones and conventional weapons, they are exercising coalition actions against Russia. We have to admit that the NATO states are seriously preparing for a ‘potential conflict’ with us, about which, by the way, high-ranking NATO representatives are openly talking about,” Zakharova said in a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Speaking about NATO’s accusations against Russia of hybrid attacks on the alliance Zakharova said Moscow considers them as disinformation, which increases the degree of anti-Russian hysteria.
On May 2, the North Atlantic Council adopted a statement, accusing Russia of hybrid attacks against the alliance’s member states.
“The North Atlantic alliance and the leadership of some individual member states are doing what they are the best at – spreading disinformation, increasing the degree of anti-Russian hysteria in order to justify unprecedented levels of militarization in Europe,” Zakharova said.
Russia shoots down four US-made long-range missiles – MOD
RT | May 4, 2024
Russian air defenses have shot down four US-manufactured long-range missiles over Crimea, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
On Saturday night, Kiev’s forces attempted “to carry out a terrorist attack” against the Russian peninsula using surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) supplied by Washington, the ministry said in a post on Telegram. The strike was intercepted, it added.
On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry claimed that six ATACMS projectiles had been downed in a single day, without specifying the location of the strikes. In total, 15 such missiles have been intercepted in the past seven days, Moscow reported on Saturday.
In late April, US officials confirmed earlier media reports that the Pentagon had secretly shipped an unspecified number of long-range missiles to Ukraine as part of an arms package announced by President Joe Biden in mid-March.
The “goal” of supplying Kiev with ATACMS was to put more pressure on Crimea and allow Ukrainian forces to target the peninsula “more effectively,” the New York Times reported at a time, citing an unnamed Pentagon official.
Moscow said the provision of long-range missiles would only spell “more problems” for Kiev. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted that the use of ATACMS would not impact the outcome of the conflict, or prevent Russia from achieving its security goals.
On Friday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that any Western-backed Ukrainian attack against the Russian peninsula, or the Crimean Bridge which connects it to the Krasnodar Region, would spark a forceful response.
“I would like to again warn Washington, London, Brussels, that any aggressive actions against Crimea are not only doomed to failure, but will also be met with a retaliatory blow,” she said during a media briefing.
Drone hits passenger bus in Russian border region – governor
RT | May 3, 2024
A drone struck a passenger bus on Friday morning in one of the villages in Russia’s Belgorod Region, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said. He later reported that another UAV hit a car in the same settlement.
The attacks happened in the village of Voznesenka, located not far from the border with Ukraine, Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
According to the governor, an FPV drone had targeted a passenger bus which was being used to transport the employees of one of the local firms.
A driver and two passengers were inside the vehicle at the moment of the attack, he said.
“As a result of the explosion, one person was injured. The man suffered a barotrauma and a bruise to his right arm,” Gladkov said.
A few hours later, the governor reported another UAV attack in Voznesenka, saying that a kamikaze drone had struck a parked car in the village.
“There is one victim. A man with shrapnel wounds to his back and upper and lower extremities was rushed by ambulance to the regional clinical hospital,” he said.
The targeted car suffered “serious damage,” while three more vehicles were hit with shrapnel. Windows were also blown out in a nearby building, the governor said.
In the town of Shebekino in Belgorod Region, a kamikaze drone also struck a gas station; the explosion set one of the gas storage tanks on fire, Gladkov said.
No one was injured in the incident, the governor stressed, adding that the emergencies services have arrived on site.
Also on Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that five Ukrainian drones had been destroyed by air defenses above Belgorod Region and one more above Crimea overnight.
The Russian regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, all of which border Ukraine, have been the targets of numerous Ukrainian missile, mortar and drone attacks since the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. The strikes have targeted energy infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries, as well as the destruction of property.
Kremlin responds to US chemical weapons accusations
RT | May 2, 2024
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected claims by the US that Russia has engaged in chemical warfare in the Ukraine conflict.
The allegation was made as the US Department of State announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russian entities on Wednesday. Some of these measures were justified by reference to alleged breaches by Moscow of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
However, Peskov told journalists on Thursday that the claims were “absolutely baseless and not supported by any evidence.” Moscow remains committed to its international obligations, he added.
The latest American sanctions targeted a total of 280 individuals and entities, including the Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence – a specialized branch of the Russian military tasked with protecting the military and civilian population from weapons of mass destruction. Washington alleges that the unit “facilitated the use” of chemical weapons in the Ukraine conflict.
The US Department of State specifically claimed that Russia had deployed the toxin chloropicrin, which was used in chemical warfare during World War I and is now predominantly utilized as a pesticide and herbicide.
A senior Ukrainian military commander claimed last year that his troops had been targeted with chloropicrin on multiple occasions. In February, Kiev alleged that Russia had conducted more than 200 chemical weapons attacks on the battlefield in January alone.
Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of staging chemical weapons incidents with a view to blaming Russia for them.
”The use of toxic chemicals by the Ukrainian militants has become systematic,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in late February. It added that the Ukrainians were also using improvised drone-dropped chemical weapons.
”The first recorded instance of the use of chloropicrin by Ukrainian neo-fascists happened during the siege of the House of Trade Unions in Odessa on May 2, 2014,” the ministry said. Fumes produced by the chemical during a fire at the building contributed to the high death toll arising from the incident, according to Moscow.
The US sanctions were announced one day before the tenth anniversary of the mass killings in Odessa, which claimed the lives of 48 people, according to the official Ukrainian count.
Russia Shatters NATO’s Illusory Might With Display of Trophy Armor at Moscow’s Victory Park
By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 01.05.2024
NATO countries sent tens of billions of dollars’ worth of some of their best military hardware to Ukraine in an attempt to “weaken” Russia in a grueling proxy war. Destroying the equipment by the hundreds, Russia added insult to injury by putting trophy NATO weapons on display before its main memorial dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany.
The open-air exhibition of foreign weapons and military equipment at Moscow’s Victory Park is shaping up to become perhaps Russia’s greatest psychological and public relations coup in the Ukrainian proxy war with NATO so far.
Dozens of captured vehicles and pieces of weaponry from twelve countries (most of them – members of the bloc) have been put on display, from a Leopard-2 tank, Marder and Bradley IFVs to Humvee, Husky and MRAP vehicles, an M777 towed howitzer, and more exotic equipment, like a French AMX-10RC wheeled tank.
Where possible, equipment has been restored to working or semi-working condition, and plastered with flags to give visitors a sense of the countries which have contributed most to the West’s proxy war against Russia over the past two years. Information stands provide data on the equipment’s manufacturers, their technical and tactical characteristics, and the location and circumstances in which they fell into Russian troops’ hands.
The exhibition serves as a visual and tactile confirmation of sentiments which first became evident last fall, after the catastrophic failure of Ukraine’s NATO-armed and trained armies to breach Russian defenses in Zaporozhye, Kherson and the Donbass in a much-touted summer counteroffensive.
That campaign bled Ukrainian and allied mercenary forces white, and debunked the decades-old myth that emerged in the 80s, 90s and 2000s on the back of Tom Clancy novels and NATO wars of aggression against smaller countries like Yugoslavia and Iraq about the superiority of Western military equipment over its Soviet and Russian analogues. During the scorching summer of 2023, Russian forces demonstrated that the Western alliance’s technologically sophisticated weaponry could be destroyed, damaged or captured just as readily as Ukraine’s Soviet-era equipment.
The trophy weapons exhibition’s location is also significant – situated in Victory Park at Poklonnaya Hill, a memorial complex dedicated to the USSR’s victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. The site also happens to be the place where Napoleon Bonaparte stood in 1812 before entering the Russian capital during the first Patriot War with France.
The Victory Park Museum already features an open-air exposition of Soviet and Axis weaponry that was captured during the Second World War. Now, 79 years after Nazi Germany’s capitulation on May 9, 1945, the complex has been topped up with new, modern weaponry, fresh from the battlefield and this time belonging to NATO.
Important Gesture
“This is a gesture – we are demonstrating our strength, and in some areas superiority, by flaunting this NATO hardware, not only to our own people, but to the West,” Alexei Podberezkin, director of the Center of Military-Political Studies at Russia’s prestigious MGIMO University, told Sputnik, commenting on the Victory Park display.
The exhibition serves as “an illustration of what will happen next with the equipment that is being sent to Ukraine, including those new weapons which are starting to arrive now, including Abrams tanks, ATACMS missiles, and much, much more,” Podberezkin emphasized.
Earl Rasmussen, a 20-year US Army veteran-turned independent military and foreign affairs commentator, agrees that the display is designed “to send a signal to the West.”
“[It signals] that Russia is there, they’re capable, their military is capable. They’ve destroyed almost the equivalent of three Ukrainian armies so far. And they will continue to do so. So whatever the West sends, those weapons will be destroyed,” the retired lieutenant colonel said.
“The weapons, ammunition… the production capability, the logistical capability – it’s all on the side of Russia. It’s superior in that area. It has escalation dominance. There is air superiority and tactical superiority as well. Time is on their side. And all this does [continuing the proxy war, ed.] is drain the West more and more and more. It’s a sad affair, I think for the Western public, unfortunately. And they’re being lied to by their own leaders,” Rasmussen added.
The exhibit is basically “an embarrassment to the West,” adding insult to injury regarding the tens of billions of dollars that have been wasted in Ukraine, the soldier said. “In any case, it shows basically that the aid packages” being provided by Western countries “are not going to change the outcome of the war, and will be essentially just a waste in funds and, unfortunately, both Ukrainian and Russian lives.”
NATO Hardware Not Wunderwaffe
The display is also another apt and timely reminder to the West that its military technology, including Leopards, Abrams, Bradleys, etc. are not the “miracle weapons” they were hyped to be ahead of Ukraine’s much-touted counteroffensive last year, which ran into the wall of well-prepared Russian defenses, Podberezkin said.
“This equipment proved to be no better, and often worse, than our weapons, both Soviet and Russian, in the arena of combat. And once again it was demonstrated that conflicts are fought not only with steel, but by people, first of all commanders, the military leaders who give orders and think about how to use these weapons most effectively,” Podberezkin said.
“I would really enjoy going through it as well, and think I would learn a lot from it,” Rasmussen said of the exhibition, adding that he predicts the display may be visited by international visitors, including individuals from countries asking questions about the utility of purchasing much-hyped and pricey Western military equipment vs. Russian-made hardware.
In any case, the American observer is confident that Russian military engineers and defense scientists have already gone through the equipment with a fine-tooth comb, analyzing armor capability, sensors, communications and targeting capabilities and equipment, their interoperability characteristics, etc.
“There is a lot of information Russia already probably knows. And a lot of highly classified, highly sensitive type of capability, information fusion, other sensors, other additional sensor capability, active armor capability may not have been provided to Ukraine as well. So there will be limits on what the Russian engineers will be able to discover. But it definitely provides a basis to fill some gaps. I’m sure that the engineers and designers have made it so they can turn around and readily modify Russian equipment to counter any capabilities that they haven’t already addressed,” Rasmussen concluded.
The US and the UK are pushing for total war on all fronts
By Timur Fomenko | RT | April 29, 2024
The events of recent weeks have produced a sudden jolt in Western politics. From a lethargy that was starting to creep into US and western discourse over the Ukraine war, Iran’s attack on Israel suddenly seemed to have had the effect of awakening Ronald Reagan from his grave and leading to a surge of neo-conservativism on steroids, on both sides of the Atlantic.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson did a complete 180-degree U-turn and proclaimed himself a “Reagan Republican” passing a series of aid bills for astronomical overseas spending that he had otherwise blocked for months, as he denounced an “axis of evil.” Along with that, a proposed TikTok ban bill came out of nowhere too and was quickly signed into law.
Then the UK decided to devote its largest ever aid package to Ukraine, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warning of an “axis of authoritarian states” and amplifying ideologically combative rhetoric. At the same time, it was then revealed Biden had sent 300km long range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine despite having pledged not to do so for years, fearing escalation. Finally, EU President Ursula von der Leyen has suddenly dramatically increased economic warfare on China, pushing the European Commission to open probes on scores of Chinese exports. Where exactly did all this come from?
It’s almost as if the US and its allies seized upon the tensions between Iran and Israel in order to “whitewash” their slate and double down on a series of objectives they are otherwise losing public support for, including the war in Ukraine, but also Israel’s invasion of Gaza. One has to wonder if the Israeli attack on the Iranian compound in Damascus, which provoked Tehran’s response, was deliberately staged, coordinated and planned for this purpose. It served the mutually convenient goal of letting both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Western governments off the hook for whatever opposition they had otherwise faced.
It should be abundantly clear now that the current powers that be, in London and Washington, have absolutely no intent of letting up on the wars they have provoked, while also pushing for a potential third one with China, and seem indifferent to the consequences, even if for example, the Israel-Gaza war is shattering the West’s claims of moral superiority. In each case, the stakes are very high, Western foreign policy at large has taken on a very zero-sum and ideological character which bemoans the loss of hegemony, and seeks to uphold it at all costs. It is reactionary to the extent it does not have a vision for improving the world, but wants to take back the world to the way it was. It is a sense of entitlement and privilege that wants to suppress an emerging multipolarity.
Because of this, it has become impossible for Western leaders to ever consider the concept of compromise in these respective theaters, and they refuse under any circumstances to make concessions which could be deemed strategic. This has produced a position where the only outcome they are willing to accept in Ukraine is what they deem “the defeat of Putin,” and have been subtly escalating ever since, edging ever closer to the point where a “proxy war” becomes a direct one for all intents and purposes. NATO military advisors are already on the ground, and Ukrainian attacks are being guided by NATO intelligence or even coordinated by British admirals.
The media in the West, especially in Britain (there is more dissent in the US) are effectively in war mode. The BBC amplifies non-stop Ukraine propaganda, pushing any claim that will help Kiev irrespective of its empirical worth or evidence, and all voices of dissent have been shut down. It seems evident that the decision may have been made to risk a full-on war with Russia, rather than to consider any negotiation scenario. Thus, the shockwaves from the Iran-Israel saga have been used to pursue a new and sudden round of escalation on every front, which can have only been bolstered by the prospective elections looming in both the US and UK.
Because of this, it is fair to say that the world faces a more dangerous and uncertain outlook than at any point since the end of World War II. This current crop of Western leaders are not pursuing a more restrained and calculated mindset, as seen for most of the Cold War, but an aggressive and evangelistic one that does not prefer stability but affirms hegemony as an absolute right, thus more resembling a pre-1914 world. Because of this, we should draw the conclusion that Western leaders are not truly seeking to avoid war, but are prepared to embrace it if necessary. The British military establishment and the media have long been making noises about conscription. In the US, if Joe Biden wins re-election, we can assume that he will unapologetically escalate on every single front. World War III is no longer a dramatized specter of farfetched panic, but an actual possibility that should not be ruled out.
Ukraine Fails to Use US Top Notch GLSDB Munitions Due to Russian Electronic Warfare Systems – Report
Sputnik – 28.04.2024
The GLSDB, or Guided Long-Range Surface-to-Surface Delivery Ballistic Bombs, is a joint development of Boeing and Saab, which added a rocket engine to the air bomb and adapted it for launch using multiple rocket launchers.
The Ukrainian Army is unable to effectively use GLSDB precision-guided bombs, which the US transferred to Kiev at the beginning of the year, due to Russian electronic warfare equipment, according to the Polish portal Interia, citing a statement by Under Secretary of Defense of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante.
According to the report, GLSDB bombs can only rely on inertial navigation to calculate the location of the target when the GPS signal is suppressed by electronic warfare. As a result, they miss the target. The reason for the high efficiency of Russian electronic warfare suppressing the GPS signal against GLSDB is the relatively low flight speed of these projectiles when gliding in the air, according to the article.
GLSDBs are special long-range projectiles for US-designed launchers. Developed by the US company Boeing and Sweden’s Saab, it is a high-precision bomb with a rocket motor attached that is fired from ground-based launchers, including the M270 MLRS and HIMARS.
The rocket engine lifts the bomb to a significant altitude and then uses GPS and inertial navigation to guide it to its target. This gives the GLSDB a range of up to 150 kilometers. The fact that these missiles rely on GPS navigation is their vulnerability, as the Russian Armed Forces effectively use electronic warfare to suppress GPS signals.
China calls for ‘international investigation’ into Nord Stream attack
RT | April 27, 2024
China’s deputy envoy to the UN has called for an international probe into the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, adding that Russia would be involved in such an investigation.
“With the situation standing where it is, one cannot help but suspect a hidden agenda behind the opposition to an international investigation, while lamenting the potential cover-up and loss of quantities of compelling evidence,” China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, said on Friday, according to the Xinhua news agency.
“We reiterate our call for the early launch of a UN-led international investigation to bring the truth to light for the international community,” Geng continued, adding that Western nations should “actively communicate and cooperate with Russia and jointly investigate the incident.”
Nord Stream 1 and 2 each comprised two separate pipelines, linking Russia and Germany. Three out of the four lines were destroyed in a series of explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022, severing Germany’s energy ties to Russia and leaving its gas-dependent economy reliant on more expensive American liquefied natural gas.
Germany, Sweden, and Denmark all opened investigations into the attack, but Sweden and Denmark closed their inquiries in February. Swedish investigators published no conclusions, while the Danish team concluded that “there was deliberate sabotage,” but declined to blame the attack on anyone.
China and Russia have demanded an international investigation into the bombings since last year. However, the UN Security Council rejected a Russian request for such a probe last March, with Washington’s deputy envoy to the UN, Robert Wood, accusing Russia of trying to “discredit the work of ongoing national investigations.”
On Saturday, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry appeared to reject Geng’s proposal, telling Russia’s TASS news agency that an “investigation is already being conducted by the German Public Prosecutor General’s Office.”
Absent any official conclusions, two competing theories about the bombings have emerged. According to reports in the Western mainstream media, a team of Ukrainian commandos used a rented yacht to transport explosives to the blast sites, with the CIA and European intelligence agencies being made aware of the plot several months beforehand but ultimately failing to stop it.
American journalist Seymour Hersh has said that US President Joe Biden ordered the CIA to blow up the pipelines. Citing sources in the intelligence community, Hersh has claimed that CIA divers working with the Norwegian Navy planted remotely-triggered bombs on the lines in the summer of 2022, using a NATO exercise in the region as cover.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he “fully agrees” with Hersh’s conclusions. Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, who is leading Moscow’s investigation into the blasts, said last month that “everyone knows perfectly well who did it,” and that “the tracks undoubtedly lead beyond the Atlantic,” – an apparent reference to the US.
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Precedents for Pizzagate
Marc Dutroux, Belgian pedophile, sadist, and serial killer with friends in high places
By Aedon Cassiel | Counter – Currents | December 23, 2016
To reiterate a point that should be clear to the more astute reader, my goal in this series (part 1, part 2) has not been to defend “Pizzagate” as such. My goal has been to defend the people who want to investigate it against specific accusations levied against them by people who think Pizzagate has revealed no intriguing information at all—for a specific reason, which I will be honing in and focusing on much more directly in this closing entry.
Whereas the mainstream critics of Pizzagate would have you believe that the dividing line is between paranoid conspiracy theorist followers of “fake news” and level-headed people who follow trustworthy news sources and rely on cold, hard reason to determine the truth, my goal has been to show that—whatever is or is not happening with Pizzagate itself—this framing of the issue is arrogant, insulting, and the product of extremely narrow tunnel vision. … continue
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