Russia will withdraw from the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog,

the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement today.

The statement reads:

The states of NATO and the European Union, abusing their majority in the Council of Europe (CE), are consistently turning this organization into an instrument of anti-Russian policy, refusing equal dialogue and all the principles on which this pan-European structure was created.

(maybe they will leave the UN so the UN Security Council can actually get stuff accomplished without a russian veto)

Russia has lined up more than 40,000 Syrian militiamen to join the war in Ukraine

pn rthe promise of a “salary and privileges”, according to the respected Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The SOHR, which has been reporting on the war in Syria for years, said no Syrian fighters had reached the front but around 400 were undergoing training in camps in Russia close to the Ukraine border.

“So far, more than 40,000 fighters have signed up for enlistment,” said SOHR, adding that these are not “volunteers” but have signed up on promises to receive “a salary and privileges”.

Per The Guardian

customized Lego man-of-the-moment Volodymyr Zelenskiy, complete with a stack of Molotov cocktails.

By citizenbrick as a fund raising goal for Ukraine, they raised $16,540 & the figures sold out immediately




Per The Guardian live feed & Instagram

Russia has asked China for pre-packaged meals to feed soldiers, CNN reports

Amid reports that Russia has asked China for military equipment, including missiles, drones, and armored vehicles, is a telling detail: Russia has also asked China for help feeding its troops, CNN reports.

Russia’s request for Chinese military support included a request for nonperishable food, known in the US context as “meals, ready-to-eat,” or MREs, CNN reports.

The request “raises questions about the fundamental readiness of the Russian military,” CNN reports.

also


https://twitter.com/Dimi/status/1503484449987743746

Marina Ovsyannikova ran on to the set of the Channel One transmission shouting: 'Stop the war!

More on the anti-war protest on live TV news in Russia by Channel 1 employee Marina Ovsyannikova, who burst on screen holding a sign and had also pre-recorded a statement.

That statement also included her saying of the invasion of Ukraine: “The responsibility of this aggression lies on the shoulders of only one person, Vladimir Putin,” she said, referring to the Russian president.

Ovsyannikova’s father is Ukranian. She also urged Russians to attend anti-war protests in the country to demand an end to the war, despite crackdowns on protesters.

“Only we have the power to stop all this craziness…They cannot put us all in prison,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/14/russian-tv-employee-interrupts-news-broadcast-marina-ovsyannikova

Russia's state TV using Fox news Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard as propaganda tools

Russia's state TV showcases clips of Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard, helping to perpetuate the myth of dangerous "bio-weapons" in Ukraine. This conspiracy theory is being spread by Russia's state TV with special zeal.

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1502790665947779075

A short history about our enemy & the hero of the GOP, Putin

The US Pentagon had another briefing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine today that happened off camera.

Here are updates on what was said, from Foreign Policy reporter Jack Detsch:

The US will not be providing Patriot missile defense batteries to Ukraine, as such actions would force the US to send troops into Ukraine.

Russia has launched more than 50 missiles into Ukraine each day in more than two weeks of war: senior U.S. defense official.
That's 775 missiles total of "all stripes and sizes," officials said, including 60-plus launches since yesterday.

The US assesses that Russia has not improved their air-to-ground military coordination, more than two weeks into its invasion of Ukraine.

The US has not seen any significant Russian military strikes in Western Ukraine.

Massive bursts of methane plumes occur all over the U.S. with little explanation as to why

Last month, Bloomberg Green reported that the state of Louisiana was investigating a massive plume of methane captured via satellite Jan. 21 that stretched across 56 miles. According to the outlet, the burst of greenhouse gas observed by energy analytics firm Kayrros SAS was the equivalent of the annual emissions of 1,900 cars and was the most powerful such plume in the U.S. seen by satellite since October. That plume observed in October was probably the one hovering over Alabama that Bloomberg Green proclaimed had “mystified experts.” At the time of its Oct. 22 release, it was the fifth-largest detected by the same satellite that captured the Louisiana plume. And nobody knows who’s responsible for either emission. The Louisiana emission occurred near pipelines and facilities owned by Boardwalk Pipelines LP and Kinder Morgan Inc.—both of which claimed no fault—and Energy Transfer LP, which declined to comment. Kinder Morgan also owns a pair of gas pipelines and gas wells along with coal mines that are located near where the Alabama plume was discovered. The company claimed the methane emissions were not its fault and that it had ”no active mining [operation] in the area.”

While it’s certainly worth taking a trip down memory lane to consider all the massive plumes of methane seen by satellite over the past few months (the cause behind a plume discovered above a Hilcorp Energy Co. gas well in New Mexico on Sept. 21 remains a mystery too), let’s not forget how little accountability is available and awareness is made of this pollution. Regardless of operational status, abandoned wells across the country have found to have been responsible for emitting 281,000 tons of methane in 2018 alone. Methane plumes were also found to have been a side effect of routine maintenance and accidents in the oil and gas sector. According to a recent study released by the journal Science, “these sources represent as much as 12% of global methane emissions from oil and gas production and transmission.” Methane emissions from oil and gas companies alone add up to around 197 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report notes just how damaging rampant methane emissions can be, citing methane as a major factor in lower crop yields and rising global temperatures. According to the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), “methane is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone” and “80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.” The Louisiana plume was so intense, Kayrros SAS found that it took an estimated 105 tons of methane emitted per hour to create it. The Alabama plume saw bursts of methane emitted at about 58 tons per hour, while the New Mexico plume was created by a sustained emission of methane at about 39 tons per hour.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/9/2081648/-Massive-bursts-of-methane-plumes-occur-all-over-the-U-S-with-little-explanation-as-to-why

Index provider Morningstar will remove Russia securities from its fixed income indexes beginning

31 March and immediately move the country from emerging markets to unclassified, Reuters reports.

Earlier this week, JPMorgan - which runs the most widely used emerging market bond indexes - also said Russia will be excluded from all its fixed income indexes on 31 March.

Index providers FTSE Russell and MSCI said last week they were taking similar steps as deepening sanctions and public pressure isolate Russia’s economy from western investment and trading partners.

Morningstar said its indexes will remove cash and accrued interest from all Russian issuers regardless of payment status, from 9 March for all indexes except the Morningstar Infrastructure Bond Indexes.