Latest @DefenceHQ update: #Russia is attempting "small scale assaults" along the Donbas frontline in eastern #Ukraine, particularly targeting critical infrastructure like the power plant at Vuhlehirska, hoping to use the momentum gained for a move on Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. 
Great piece on the #China-#Russia-#Iran axis: bound by a "hatred of the #US and its global alliance system", any successful policy dealing with these imperial and ideological projects must view them holistically, rather than as independent challenges.
theaustralian.com.au/commentary/be-…
theaustralian.com.au/commentary/be-…
Before the end of the year, #Ukraine might well send captured #Russian soldiers to the International Criminal Court to stand trial over their war crimes and crimes against humanity since February. Seems some are willing to testify against senior leaders.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
#Russia's submarines in the Black Sea have killed about 5,000 dolphins in the last five months. It is not just the explosions, but the constant underwater noise has disrupted the dolphins' echolocation/sonar system, making e.g. finding food difficult. kyivindependent.com/national/more-…
Bad signs the #US army will be shrinking over the next year
https://twitter.com/paulmcleary/status/1549876875308273672
This is undoubtedly the case. It's a weird part of so much of the academic literature that it takes a very literalist view of where things come from - not to mention using official statistics published by these closed, conspiratorial governments.
https://twitter.com/fordistralia/status/1549969355345051649
#pt: A classic case from the Cold War of refusing to acknowledge what is really happening is: #Syria's relationship with the terrorist zoo in Lebanon, overseen by the #PLO - a project run by the #Soviets using Asad Sr. and the Palestinians as cut-outs.
#US confirms that #Russia has advanced 10 miles at the most over the last 90 days in the Donbas offensive, with #Ukraine making them pay an exorbitant price for every inch of territory.
https://twitter.com/Ayei_Eloheichem/status/1549984643142881285
Good that the #US is clear on this: #Russia's intentions have never changed - the goal is to eradicate #Ukraine. It was on the first day and it is so now; the tactics have had to shift because of Kiev's resistance, but the strategic aim remains the same.
https://twitter.com/Ayei_Eloheichem/status/1549987994425331713
One's heart bleeds, etc.
https://twitter.com/y_akopov/status/1549467900246990848
Thousands of #Russian soldiers from across the country have refused to fight in #Ukraine. 300 men in Buynaksk (Dagestan) simply threw down their weapons. These deserters face extreme threats, of violence and "legal" retribution under the treason laws. moscowtimes.ru/2022/07/18/tis…
#US confirms #Russia has not destroyed any HIMARS or other MLRS system. The Russians have made desperate efforts to push out fake footage on the point.
https://twitter.com/Ayei_Eloheichem/status/1549988580612870150
#US ruling out transfer of ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles to #Ukraine, which means we're probably a fortnight out from a change of policy.
https://twitter.com/Ayei_Eloheichem/status/1549994089029959680
#Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska, who was never very enthusiastic about her husband's entry into politics and remained out of that fray until #Russia invaded, is now engaged in an international campaign to raise awareness, especially for mothers.
https://twitter.com/olgatokariuk/status/1549847791391981569
#pt: Small thing, but important: as noted in that thread, #Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska does not smile in any of the official photographs - part of her messaging on behalf of the mothers and children massacred, wounded, and deprived of their husbands, fathers, and brothers
#Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska spoke to Congress yesterday, saying the #US knew the costs of terrorism and "asking for something now that I never wanted to ask for", namely weapons for Ukrainians to defend themselves from #Russia's invasion.
https://twitter.com/OstapYarysh/status/1549789210579722241
In her speech to Congress, #Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska specifically asked for air defences "so that missiles do not kill children in their strollers", referencing little Liza Dmitrieva, whom #Russia killed last week in a senseless attack
https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1547709882916171776
#Australia is ready to help #Ukraine repair the damage from #Russia's invasion
https://twitter.com/armyinformcomua/status/1550043078949470209
Good threat on the #Russia-#Iran relationship: for all its complexities, it is one of strategic alignment against the #US-led system, and the metrics being used by some - specifically economics - are grossly misleading.
https://twitter.com/NicoleGrajewski/status/1549847052254957572
#pt: Have written many times about the Western habit of fooling itself that there is a divergence between #Russia and #Iran that we can exploit. One example from 2018: thearabweekly.com/rumours-iran-r…
#pt: The best historical overview of the #Soviet/#Russia alignment with Clerical #Iran, right back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, is here: meforum.org/62821/whither-…
#Ukraine's inability to fully rout #Russia at Kyiv, allowing an orderly withdrawal, meant Putin could spin "a larger military clusterfuck into a 'feint'." To have domestic political impacts, Ukraine needs to visibly defeat the Russians, writes @BuddyYakov. building-a-ruin.ghost.io/a-few-thoughts…
The performance of #Spain's social government in the #Ukraine crisis has hardly been sterling. Little surprise, really, with the grisly history of the PSOE, which has been better at rebranding than fundamental changes.
https://twitter.com/bopanc/status/1549832231690043393
Slowly, slowly the #US getting there: indicating potentially sending A-10 "Warthog" ground attack aircraft to #Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/haynesdeborah/status/1549860094774493184
The devastation in Irpin, and even more infamously Bucha, is all the more remarkable since it was done in about a month of #Russia's occupation around #Ukraine's capital.
To be kept in mind when "peace" proposals want areas left under Russian occupation.
To be kept in mind when "peace" proposals want areas left under Russian occupation.
https://twitter.com/FinancialTimes/status/1550034964535803904
Another horrible story of #Russians fully bought into state propaganda to the point of excommunicating family members who do not agree.
Anecdotal it might be, but I don't know anyone with Russian friends who doesn't have a story like this. Awful.
Anecdotal it might be, but I don't know anyone with Russian friends who doesn't have a story like this. Awful.
https://twitter.com/ichbinilya/status/1549859892378435585
Crazy that #Russian officials like Artyom Sheynin are wandering around in #Italy at this stage.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1549762560722964482
Things really not looking good in #Italy
https://twitter.com/carlbildt/status/1550079066925154305
Very much a "this is not how anything works dot gif" moment
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1550083649000726528
There we go. #Hungary's government has run interference for #Russia within the #EU for a long time, now making the alignment even more overt.
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1550084904469372929
"The Russian Ministry of Justice has asked a local court to rule on the liquidation of the Jewish Agency for Israel ... A hearing on the topic is scheduled for July 28" haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
Positive move from #Britain, though unclear if this is a reaffirmation of the twenty M109 howitzers announced in mid-June, or whether it is *another* twenty.
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1550063979246100480
CIA director Bill Burns speaking at the Aspen Security Forum said 15,000 #Russian soldiers have been killed in #Ukraine and perhaps 45,000 have been wounded. It seems he is using a low-end estimate. Ukrainians have suffered "a little less than that". reuters.com/world/europe/c…
#pt: CIA director Bill Burns said states should look at "a place like #Sri_Lanka today - heavily indebted to #China - which has made some really dumb bets about their economic future and are suffering some pretty catastrophic ... consequences". timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/93…
This is such garbage from @NPR. Recycles some of #Russia's talking points and contains no context whatever - neither about the recent removal of two senior officials in #Ukraine or just generally about the progress and situation of the war.
https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1550014484860866560
Relations with #China never go well for anyone
https://twitter.com/eurasianet/status/1550108721925144576
A clever but failed effort by #Russia to send a fake Android app to the "IT Army" of #Ukrainian and international volunteer hacktivists: presented as a program to help DDoS attacks on Russia, it would have identified those who opened it. vice.com/en/article/bvm…
Quite the scene
https://twitter.com/Natsecjeff/status/1550123594180505607
#Russia could not have been clearer throughout all of this that the intention of the invasion is to eradicate #Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1550037890356461570
Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-born Israeli businessman, says Jews in Russia should stop waiting: there are enough signs of where this is going; they should get out as soon as possible. And Israel should stop dithering and send weapons to Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/Nevzlin/status/1550092470167683072
#Russia unable to put out this fire started at the drilling platform in the Black Sea a month ago.
https://twitter.com/bradyafr/status/1550133511410962434
SIS/MI6 chief Richard Moore (@ChiefMI6) says #Russia is looking for a way to pause the offensive in eastern #Ukraine because they can't sustain it. Adds that "there is no evidence that #Putin is suffering from serious ill health".
https://twitter.com/haynesdeborah/status/1550132495097597957
Let's see how bad this gets. Seems unlikely #Russia's government will let #Hungary's Foreign Minister leave without saying something outrageous in his presence about #Ukraine and/or #NATO. He is very unlikely to push back and thus tacitly consent.
https://twitter.com/liliebayer/status/1550098292536758272
Director of the CIA agrees with the SIS/MI6 chief that #Putin is not ill.
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1549955310340685827
#Hungary's ruling Fidesz party announces it has "decided to purchase an additional 700 million cubic metres of natural gas [from #Russia] in addition to the quantities stipulated in the long-term contracts". euractiv.com/section/global…
#Ukraine's President Zelensky has stripped citizenship from Ihor Kolomoyskyi, one of the three richest oligarchs in the country - @IuliiaMendel.
Kolomoyskyi, who has been a supporter of Zelensky since 2019, also has citizenship in Israel and Cyprus.
Kolomoyskyi, who has been a supporter of Zelensky since 2019, also has citizenship in Israel and Cyprus.
Helpful debunking by @r_osadchuk at a moment when a lot of #Russia's claims about Western weaponry going astray are getting circulated even in places like the @FT: "How Russia promoted the claim that #Ukraine re-sold French howitzers for profit" medium.com/dfrlab/how-rus…
#Russia is planning to stage referenda in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia to annex these occupied territories of south-eastern #Ukraine. That this is coming has been obvious for a while: sources tell @business it'll happen in September. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Curious if this goes through: #Spain has been very like #Germany in publicly promising things to #Ukraine that never arrive.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1550218271189876739
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