Jul 12 Buonasera Mag
Day 139 Ukraine: Zelensky orders, Donetsk, Melitopol, RU gas, Canadian turbines, RU recruitment, RU war crimes, Sephora, Orban, J6 Hearing, Preparing for Civil War
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
Zelensky: There is no ‘operational pause,' Russians continue to attack. President Zelensky said that Russia carried out 34 airstrikes on July 9 alone. “The Ukrainian army is holding on tight and repelling attacks in various directions”.
Zelensky had ordered Ukraine’s army to liberate Ukraine's coast. In an interview with the Sunday Times, MoD Reznikov said that president Zelensky had ordered Ukraine’s army, equipped with Western weapons, to “retake occupied coastal areas which are vital to the country’s economy.”
About 80% of residents in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk have fled, its governor said, and 20% have remained.
Ukraine calls on its allies to impose new sanctions on Moscow and step up new supplies of heavy weapons to Kyiv to punish Putin’s government for simplifying their naturalization procedure for Ukrainian citizens.
Moscow 'most likely' to totally halt gas supplies to Europe. French Economy and Finance Minister Le Maire said on July 10 that France should prepare for a total cut-off of Russian gas.
Zelensky says Canada's transfer to Germany of turbine for Nord Stream 1 dangerous precedent. “Now there is no doubt that Russia will try not only to limit as much as possible, but also to completely stop the supply of gas to Europe at the most urgent moment."
The Russian forces in Lysichansk are confiscating and destroying the Ukrainian passports of surviving residents.
Russian milblogger Rybar stated that the Russian MoD and possibly actors within the presidential administration are actively attempting to silence unofficial coverage of the war.
US has intelligence that Iran is preparing to provide Russia with UAVs to use in Ukraine and to train the Russians how to use them, Jake Sullivan tells journalists.
Russian lawmakers have proposed extending a ban on so-called “gay propaganda”, broadening a law that rights activists say has put LGBT people at risk and led to increased discrimination and violence.
The video was allegedly taken in the No. 1 penal colony of the Republic of Adygea. According to the operator, the prisoners are being recruited to be sent to Ukraine - "to steal, or to fight".
Prosecutor General’s Office: 21,677 alleged Russian war crimes under investigation. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating 827 other alleged crimes regarding Russia's war against Ukraine, including cases into the preparation and conduct of aggressive war, and the propaganda of war.
The United Nations says it will monitor the war in Ukraine for violations against children, including killings, injuries, recruitment, rape and other forms of sexual violence, the Associated Press reports. (no comment)
Irene Kenyon: This is for the Ukrainian children they kidnapped and the Ukrainian citizens they forcibly relocated.
The French chain Sephora announced the sale of 100% of the shares of its subsidiary in Russia to its local General Manager, reported the press service of the LVMH holding, which owns Sephora and operated stores in 34 cities in Russia.
Germany and the Czech Republic have signed a joint declaration, pledging to overcome Russian fossil fuel dependency and to accelerate the transition to low carbon energy.
Trump's attorney Justin Clark is now cooperating with federal investigators, a significant development that can send shockwaves through multiple Trump related investigations.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban To Speak At CPAC In Texas
Connolly, Germany braces for ‘nightmare’ of Russia turning off gas for good
Germany is bracing itself for a potentially permanent halt to the flow of Russian gas from Monday when maintenance work begins on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that brings the fuel to Europe’s largest economy via the Baltic Sea.
Soldatov, Putin Deploys Comrade Stalin’s Tactics
In Putin’s new system, corruption is still allowed but the practitioners run the risk of hefty prison sentences. The trick is that nobody knows who the next victim could be, and which ministry or agency Putin might decide to “clean” next. That puts every official, every minister, and every general in the police or security services on edge.
Bugajsky, Mapping Russia’s Devolution
The rupture of the Russian Federation will be the third phase of imperial collapse following the unravelling of the Soviet Bloc and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. It will also herald another time of troubles, a period of political crisis and chaos that Moscovite Russia experienced in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and was replicated during the disintegration of the Tsarist Russia in World War One.
Barbara F. Walter, ‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country
And then the second factor was whether populations in these partial democracies began to organize politically, not around ideology — so, not based on whether you’re a communist or not a communist, or you’re a liberal or a conservative — but where the parties themselves were based almost exclusively around identity: ethnic, religious or racial identity. The quintessential example of this is what happened in the former Yugoslavia.
J6 Hearings Jul 12, 2022
The hearing today will focus on domestic violent extremists, members of Congress who joined Trump’s pressure campaign on legislators to overturn the election, and Trump’s activity focusing on January 6 itself.
The Atlantic, The Most Pathetic Men in America
When he wasn’t melting down over how “very badly” he was treated or acting like a seditious lunatic, Donald Trump could be downright serene in certain Washington settings—and never more so than when he would swan in for dinner at the Trump International Hotel, a few blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and the only other place where he would ever agree to eat.
NAFO History in the making
Former president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, has joined the NAFO ranks.
Signing off and thanks for reading…
Mo