Good news for Russia: The West is too dumb to fight the Russians
msn posted this: The U.S.-made Patriot, the gold-standard of air defense credited with intercepting Russia's supposedly unstoppable hypersonic missiles, sits firmly at the top of Kyiv's wish list.
Here is how dumb the West is about war, quote:
The U.S.-made Patriot, the gold-standard of air defense credited with intercepting Russia's supposedly unstoppable hypersonic missiles, sits firmly at the top of Kyiv's wish list
Well, yes, the Kiev press has been lying about its ability to do the scientifically impossible for well over a year now. I remember reporting, via one of my daily air strike translations, that Ukraine claimed to have shot down several Kinzhals one night, In fact, they claimed to have shot down at least two more than the Russians had launched! The intrepid air defense operators not only broke the laws of physics, but even more impressively, violated the laws of mathematics!
Here is why objects flying at hypersonic speeds cannot be intercepted:
https://engineerine.com/why-cant-hyperpersonic-missiles-be/ (please don’t show this to anyone in the Ukrainian military hierarchy. Thanks).
As long as the West (as represented by msn) thinks sending Patriot air defenses will solve Zelensky’s problems on the battlefield, Russia is safe.
All Russia needs to do now is wait until the Patriots are in place and then target them with hypersonic missiles. They did it before, and can do it again. Your billions up in smoke, American friends! But, hey, it’s not about winning, is it? For Washington, it’s about the PR war. At least before November.
After all, if Russian Kinzhals had been intercepted, Zelensky wouldn’t be begging for replacements for his vaporized Patriot systems, now would he?
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Here’s your daily air strike update for April 21, 2024
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2024/04/21/vs-rossii-nanesli-udar-po-ukrainskomu-aerodromu-dnepr-video
The Russian Armed Forces attacked the Ukrainian Dnepr airfield – video
April 21, 2024
Ukrainian airfield Dnepr. Hit a plane. Video clip: https://t.me/mod_russia/37809 / Russian Ministry of Defense [I think what I saw here was an aircraft getting hit by a missile and vaporizing]
The Russian armed forces attacked the Ukrainian Dnepr airfield. This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
It is noted that, in particular, a MiG-29 aircraft of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was destroyed.
“Operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery of groupings of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation within 24 hours destroyed the MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force at the Dnepr airfield, as well as the control center, air target detection radar and the launcher of the S-300PS anti-aircraft missile system,” says the department’s Telegram channel.
TK posted a video of attacks on Ukrainian Armed Forces facilities.
https://t.me/mod_russia/37809.
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Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://radiosputnik.ru/20240421/tsekh-1941335587.html?ysclid=lva7m9kuv255693660
21.04.2024
Russian armed forces attacked a UAV production workshop in Ukraine
Russian Defense Ministry: Russian troops attacked a workshop that produced drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine
MOSCOW, April 21/ Radio Sputnik. Over the past 24 hours, Russian troops attacked a Ukrainian enterprise that produced attack drones, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.
...
“The following were affected: a workshop for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles, a Pelican all-round radar station with a phased antenna array as well as manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 104 districts,” the department’s report says.
It is also noted that air defense systems shot down 194 Ukrainian drones and eight rockets from the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems during the day.
On Sunday afternoon, Sputnik radio reported that the Russian army had liberated the village of Bogdanovka in the DPR.
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This is the fruits of waging a failed war in Ukraine (but also in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, etc)
Poll: 70% of Taiwanese people do not trust America, way up since last poll. It will be pretty embarrassing to wage a war against China to defend Taiwan if Taiwan doesn’t want to be defended.
https://www.newsweek.com/taiwan-china-publicopinion-trust-us-1845517
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US media: Be quiet and eat your cow excrement
https://lasallefalconer.com/2017/02/why-we-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-burn-the-american-flag/
“The American Flag, which signifies purity, innocence, hardiness, valor, perseverance and justice, has been mistreated for many years now.”
It does?
I always thought the US flag stood for war, bad government and genocide…
We’re not supposed to condemn genocide. In fact, the NYT recently told its journos not to use the world “genocide” at all – now that genocide is a very important topic and most decent people think it ought to be opposed. Pretending an evil doesn’t exist is not how we stop evil.
Here’s Morgan Ortagus condemning people who burn flags because they oppose genocide. He says “If you can’t condemn it, you approve of it.” That’s true, Morgan. Did you condemn the Palestinian genocide?
Of course not, Morgan, cause you’re a freaking hypocrite!
Here is what Trump has said about flag burning:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/01/politics/flag-burning-supreme-court-trump/index.html
“Trump, who as a candidate in 2016 proposed jail time or loss of citizenship for burning the American flag, called the act a “disgrace” on Monday and pledged support for an “anti-flag burning” statute.”
Of course, Trump doesn’t contextualize or explain his positions. He addresses people whose minds are already made up and he believes (he’s sometimes right, but…) that his audience has ready-made stock opinions that match his. This is what demagogues do.
And without context, you can hardly argue with this demagogue.
In the Vietnam War era, people were condemned for flag burning because most Americans thought like the Lasalle Falcon writer, that the flag only stood for positive things.
From this distorted viewpoint, burning the flag meant you were against purity, hardiness, valor, perseverance and justice, so of course you were a bad person and were influencing others to hate positive values.
But in fact, in the Vietnam War era, the flag stood for unjust and unjustified war and the massacre of innocents, like the shockingly horrific Song My massacre.
If you don’t know a lot about the My Lai massacre, take a few minutes to see this video featuring Seymour Hersh, who wrote up the story as young reporter for the NYT (back when the NYT was still telling the truth about most things):
The photos here show some of the horrors of the My Lai massacre (hundreds were killed)
Two young children on a road before they were shot by US soldiers
Ok, now that we’ve seen these reminders of what the flag stands for in well-informed people’s minds, let’s contextualize Trump’s condemnation of flag burning.
What Trump was actually saying – without realizing it – is that the people who burn the flag in protest of the US-Israeli genocide and the retaliation against the genocide-opposing Iran are to be condemned for recognizing and speaking out against evil.
So why did US soldiers shoot children in cold blood in My Lai?
Because both the government and the church condoned the war. They said we were fighting “godless communists.” Gullible, naïve young American soldiers therefore figured it was their duty to kill ever man, woman and child in the “godless” country halfway around the world because they thought they were defending God and preventing the spread of godless communism. The State Department and War Department also pushed this narrative.
Today we trade with Vietnam and communist China.
See what sheep we are?
Just a few years after slaughtering a million of them for being commies, we began to trade with them even though they are still commies. How does this make sense?
Clearly we were duped by the warmongers in Washington but no one asked any questions or questioned their motives.
The US government is responsible for all the Gazan atrocities depicted above because the US has the power of the purse over Netanyahu. All Biden would have had to do was say: You kill one more civilian in Gaza and you can kiss all further weapons shipments and money goodbye. But we all know what he did.
Right after the Biden team warned Israel not to kill so many people (what’s the bag limit per day?), it turned around and sent more lethal weapons to kill MORE civilians.
Just today, Congress, in response to Biden’s request, sent $60 billion to the corrupt Nazi regime in Ukraine.
So there’s your context, Donald Trump, for your condemnation of flag burners, and there’s YOUR context, Morgan Ortagus, for your condemnation of people who don’t condemn Hamas and who support Iran, the anti-genocide nation.
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Israel has quieted down after Iran’s threat and Raisi-Putin phone call
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
A PHONE CALL TO PUTIN PROVIDED THE MAIN ANSWERS: IRAN AND ISRAEL ON THE THRESHOLD OF A GREAT WAR
Iran and Israel balancing on the brink of open war, assessing their capabilities and those of the enemy. Iran says that if Israel dares to commit "the slightest act of aggression," "the Iranian response will no longer be limited." It's Israel's turn, but it seems the ardor has died down in Tel Aviv. And there are reasons for this. Probably, the last determining factor in Israel’s assessment of Iran’s capabilities can be considered information about the telephone conversation between Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Vladimir Putin
...
So, there is an understanding that Iran has exposed Israel's vulnerability. Against this background, the factor determining the balance of power and the further military activity of Tel Aviv is the statement of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi about the country’s readiness to use all its power. According to Iran's official news agency IRNA [Islamic Republic News agency], Raisi said Iran's next attack would no longer be limited if Israel dared to bomb Iranian territory.
If the Zionist regime commits the slightest act of aggression on Iranian territory, it will be dealt a powerful and brutal blow, said President Raisi. [Iran has claimed it has enough missile power to take out both Tel Aviv and Haifa. Some of the missiles are hypersonic, and all smart people know hypersonics cannot be shot down. Bibi’s advisors may well have told him this.]
...
Raisi talked to Putin. Result?
Probably, the last determining factor in Israel's assessment of Iran's capabilities can be considered the information about the telephone conversation between Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin after Iran's attack on Israel.
If the official Kremlin website limited itself to only a laconic message on April 16 that “at the initiative of the Iranian side, a telephone conversation took place between Vladimir Putin and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ibrahim Raisi,” then the Iranian official news agency IRNA published quite detailed information about the telephone conversation between the two leaders.
IRANIAN PRESIDENT EBRAHIM RAISI SPOKE ON THE PHONE WITH RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN. AND EVERYTHING CALMED DOWN.
For example, IRNA writes that “Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Iran’s response to last week’s Zionist attack on the Iranian consular building in Damascus.”
We quote further from Putin’s statements as reported by the official Iranian agency:
The President of Russia <...> emphasized that Iran’s operation against the Zionist regime took place after the inaction of the UN Security Council and was the best way to punish the aggressor and a sign of the tact and rationality of Iranian leaders." And more from Putin’s words addressed to the Iranian leader: "Criticizing the behavior of the United States and some Western countries in regional escalation, Putin stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the main pillars of stability and security in the region. [Very apropos because it is commonly accepted in Western media and political class to affirm, falsely, that Iran and its protegees in the Middle East are “destabilizing” factors, when in fact, the main destabilizers in the ME are Israel, the US and US-linked terrorist groups]
The assessments are quite clear. There is no reason to doubt that IRNA accurately quotes V. Putin. This is a clear signal to Tel Aviv, albeit indirectly, through the Iranian side.
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Saudi tries to appear neutral but supports Israel militarily
Saudi would be much stronger and more respected if it joined forces with Iran in opposing the genocide. Instead it joins forces with the Satanic state.
Of course, if you can’t tell good from evil…
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Jesus
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Over 150 bodies found in Khan Younis grave
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One child killed every 10 minutes in Gaza
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Our thanks to JS for this:
Christian Peacemakers Are Ramping Up Their Faith-Based Call for a Cease-fire
Dozens of Christians for a Free Palestine activists were arrested in Washington last week, in a burgeoning effort to save famine-threatened Gaza.
by JOHN NICHOLS, The Nation, 15 April 2024
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/christians-for-a-free-palestine-protest-gaza
ACTIVISM / APRIL 15, 2024
Christian Peacemakers Are Ramping Up Their Faith-Based Call for a Cease-fire
Dozens of Christians for a Free Palestine activists were arrested in Washington last week, in a burgeoning effort to save famine-threatened Gaza.
JOHN NICHOLS
When I interviewed US Representative Barbara Lee in September of 2001 about her decision to cast the sole congressional vote against giving George W. Bush and Dick Cheney a blank check to wage endless war, she spoke of prayer and revelation:
I was at the National Cathedral in Washington. I went to the memorial service on the Friday after the attacks and I prayed. I said to myself, “You’ve got to figure this one out.” I was dealing with all the grief and sorrow and the loss of life, and it was very personal because a member of my staff had lost a cousin in the Pennsylvania crash. I was thinking about my responsibility as a member of Congress to try to ensure that this never happens again. I listened to the remarks of the clergy. Many of them made profound statements. But I was struck by what one of them said: “As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.” That was such a wise statement, and it reflected not only what I was feeling but also my understanding of the threats we continue to face. When I left the cathedral, I was fairly resolved.
A Catholic in her youth, Lee attended St. Joseph’s Catholic School in El Paso, where the Sisters of Loretto taught that “we have to fight for peace and justice.” As an adult, she became a member of the historic Allen Temple Baptist Church. She would eventually be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the American Baptist Seminary of the West, a historic seminary affiliated denominationally with the American Baptist Churches in the USA and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
So it comes as little surprise that Lee often brings a language of faith and morality to policy debates. That has certainly been the case with regard to the Israeli assault on Gaza, which has left more than 33,000 Palestinian men, women, and children dead. Lee was one of the first cosponsors of the House resolution calling for an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine, and she has argued for months that“every day that the United States does not explicitly call for an immediate ceasefire is a moral failure.”
Lee is not alone in that view.
Opposition to US policy regarding the devastation of Gaza has come from people of all faiths since Israeli forces targeted the Palestinian enclave in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack. Muslim Americans have taken the lead, in conjunction with Jewish American groups such as Rabbis for Ceasefire, If Not Now, and Jewish Voice for Peace. But there have always been Christians at rallies and protests as well, which should come as no surprise to those who know that Palestine is home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities.
Much of the domestic debate on US policy toward Israel and Palestine has focused on the enthusiastic support for Israel’s war on the part of Christian evangelical pastors and their allies in the Republican Party. Less attention has been paid to the Christian groups working on behalf of peace and justice in Gaza.
For months, the group Mennonite Action has organized protests at congressional offices around the country. as well as a January 16 “Day of Action for a Ceasefire” on Capitol Hill, during which 150 Mennonites were arrested for engaging in an act of civil disobedience that featured prayers and singing in the Cannon House Office Building. A few weeks later, one thousand Black pastors from multiple denominations signed a call for the Biden administration to support a cease-fire, with one prominent signer, the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, the senior pastor of Friendship–West Baptist Church in Dallas who recently succeeded Jesse Jackson as the president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, saying, “What they are witnessing from the administration in Gaza is a glaring contradiction to what we thought the president and the administration was about. So when you hear a president say the term, ‘redeem the soul of America,’ well, this is a stain, a scar on the soul of America. There’s something about this that becomes hypocritical.”
Last week, the group Christians for a Free Palestine organized a two-day mass action in Washington, declaring, “We are Christians mobilizing against the weaponization of our theology and our tax dollars by Christian Zionists to perpetrate the genocide of the Palestinian people.” The explicit challenge to Christian Zionism is notable, as there is little doubt that evangelical support for Israel’s assault on Gaza influences Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
“For many ‘Christian Zionists,’ and particularly for popular evangelists with significant clout within the Republican Party, their support for Israel is rooted in its role in the supposed end times: Jesus’ return to Earth, a bloody final battle at Armageddon, and Jesus ruling the world from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,” explains Sarah Posner, the author of Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind. “In this scenario, war is not something to be avoided, but something inevitable, desired by God, and celebratory.”
Christians for a Free Palestine activists reject this scenario, as do theologians and Christian leaders in the Middle East.
With endorsements from groups such as the American Friends Service Committee, the Fellowship for Reconciliation, Red Letter Christians, the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, Black Christians for Palestine and Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, as well as allies such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Code Pink, the Christians for a Free Palestine actions on Capitol Hill focused on the horror of the Israeli assault on Gaza. In particular, attention was paid to the looming threat of mass starvation in the region—where restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid led USAID Administrator Samantha Power to acknowledge that “food has not flowed in sufficient quantities to avoid this imminent famine in the south and these conditions that are giving rise already to child deaths in the north.”
Singing, “We will not avert our eyes, Palestine will be free,” Christians for a Free Palestine activists disrupted lunch service in the Senate cafeteria Tuesday and declared, “We are here to pray for the food of Gaza, and not bombs. Congress and there not eat today, ‘til Gaza eats.” Dozens were arrested. Outside the Capitol, at a simple table, members of various denominations participated in a communion service where the Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart announced that Christians were raising their voices “because we are enemies of injustice, because we embarrass the state by our refusal to accept its ways.”
The message for members of Congress was blunt, yet rooted in faith. Christians who are speaking up for the people of Gaza argue that messages grounded in faith have the power to influence policymakers toward justice and peace. In the same sermon by the Rev. Nathan Baxter that moved Barbara Lee all those years ago, Baxter, then the dean of the National Cathedral, recalled that “people of faith who have lived in cultures of terror, with whom I have talked—Israelis, Palestinians, South Africans, Liberians, Irish—all say it is their faith, above all else, which keeps them focused, secure in spirit, and hopeful for justice rather than revenge.”
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Columbia U students protest their university’s holdings in Israel, demand divestment
Jewish Zionist groups take advantage of the situation to warn Jewish students to stay home. They know the protests are not against Jews but want to pretend that this is anti-Semitic to make the protesters look bad and to divide them into opposing camps. Divide and conquer,
Plenty of Jews are opposed to the genocide and they are welcomed by the protesters.
The worst thing we can do is make this a racist issue.