speak easy
speak easy's JournalGerman chancellor 'stalling on heavy weaponry to Ukraine'
Source: Guardian
Germany’s chancellor is under growing pressure to authorise the delivery of heavy weaponry to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s looming eastern offensive, with Olaf Scholz’s coalition partners accusing him of failing to live up to his promises.
The centre-left leader had surprised even close partners in his three-party coalition when on 27 February he announced an “epochal change” in Germany’s foreign policy to boost defence spending and relax its restrictive stance on exporting weapons to conflict zones.
Six weeks on, prominent politicians from allied parties urged the Social Democrat to follow up words with actions after Germany was accused of stalling on delivering heavy weaponry to Ukraine and blocking a wholesale ban on Russian oil and gas.
Scholz has to “not just purse his lips but start to whistle”, said the Free Democratic party’s Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who chairs the Bundestag’s defence committee.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/german-chancellor-stalling-heavy-weaponry-ukraine-coalition-olaf-scholz-russia-offensive
Reports of explosions in Kyiv.
https://twitter.com/JaneLytv/status/1514734719656673292https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1514736227966148608
As yet, unverified -
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/apr/14/russia-ukraine-war-latest-russia-says-warship-seriously-damaged-after-ammunition-explosion-us-to-send-800m-in-military-aid-to-ukraine-live#block-6258a4178f08a3f8f35eb455
Russia: journalist arrested for 'fake news' about armed forces
Source: Guardian
A criminal case has been opened against a Siberian journalist whose news website published content critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian media reported on Thursday.
Mikhail Afanasyev, chief editor of Novy Fokus in the Russian region of Khakassia, was arrested by security forces on Wednesday over the website’s reporting on 11 riot police who allegedly refused deployment to Ukraine.
Afanasyev was accused Thursday of disseminating “deliberately false information” about the Russian armed forces, an offence that carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence under a law passed last month.
The charges come amid an unprecedented crackdown on independent media and anti-war dissent. Last month, the Russian parliament passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/russia-journalist-arrested-for-fake-news-about-armed-forces
An 'Enemy of The People'
IMO 'massive heart attack' Sergei Shoigu got the Saint Thomas Solution
A simple intravenous solution of potassium chloride is very effective at inducing cardiac arrest. A ready formulation, known as the Saint Thomas Solution, is widely available. Abbott Labs sells it under the brand name 'Plegisol'. Death by STS is nearly undetectable.
Death by potassium chloride intravenous injection
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21923800/
WaPo: The big role that small countries are playing in supplying Ukraine
Consider Estonia, which has donated anti-armor weapons like FGM-148 javelins and artillery like D-30 122mm howitzers to Ukraine. There’s also its fellow Baltic states Latvia and Lithuania, which have donated Stinger launchers and thermal imaging devices, according to tracking from Jane’s, the open-source defense intelligence provider.
The Czech Republic has reportedly sent vehicles like Russian-made T-72M tanks and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles. Central European neighbor Slovakia announced Monday that it was in talks with allies about how to provide its own fleet of Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine forces, building on a prior transfer of a Russian-made S-300 air defense system.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/14/slovakia-estonia-small-country-supply-weapons-russia-ukraine-germany/
Meanwhile, Germany is sitting on its hands
The Bundeswehr has such vehicles manufactured by the German firm Rheinmetall. Rheinmetall could quickly prepare around 20 armored vehicles, currently undergoing maintenance, for Ukrainian forces, company boss Armin Papperger told Spiegel this week.
According to German media, the question of such a delivery is being debated by government security experts because it raises questions of technical feasibility, logistical delays, and the maintenance of the German arsenal.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/04/11/germany-limited-arms-ukraine/
Scuttling the Russian Warship Moskva was a BFD
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/russia-says-warship-seriously-damaged-by-explosion-as-putin-builds-forces-in-east-ukraine
Wealthiest Americans pay just 3.4% of income in taxes, investigation reveals
Tax records from 2014 to 2018, analysed by ProPublica, show 25 Americans collectively earned $401bn but paid just $13.6bnThe investigation is the latest in a series ProPublica started in June 2021 that looks at the tax records of the top 0.001% wealthiest Americans. This installment uses a trove of tax filings from 2013 to 2018 to dive into the wealth of the 400 richest Americans, all of whom earn more than $110m a year. It found that the wealthy benefit from lower tax rates on financial assets and deductions from charitable contributions to keep their taxes low.
The difference in tax rates between the wealthiest Americans and the average worker comes down to two critical factors, according to the investigation: first, the wealthy have their income taxed at a lower rate because much of their wealth is accumulated through investments, like stocks; and second, the wealthy are able to use large charitable donations to get huge deductions.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/13/wealthiest-americans-tax-income-propublica-investigation
Calls for concentration camps on Russian State TV
As Russia’s war in Ukraine flounders, ominous rhetoric gains groundOn state television, a military analyst doubled down on Russia’s need to win and called for concentration camps for Ukrainians opposed to the invasion.
Two days later, the head of the defense committee in the lower house of parliament said it would take 30 to 40 years to “reeducate” Ukrainians.
And on a talk show, the editor in chief of the English-language television news network RT described Ukrainians’ determination to defend their country as “collective insanity.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/13/russias-war-ukraine-founders-ominous-rhetoric-gains-ground/
Heavy rain will hamper the Russian offensive in the Luhansk region of Ukraine
This would not be the first time that weather has 'complicated' military plans in Eastern Europe
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