Category: War and Peace

Categories
Russia Vladimir Putin War and Peace

Russian Military Using Cluster Bombs To ‘Execute Civilians’ In Ukraine: Report

As Russian military forces continue to face strong resistance in their attack on Ukraine, it now appears that cluster bombs are also being used by Russia in direct violation of international law.

The Independent reports:

Amnesty International has condemned Russia’s reported use of cluster munitions in Ukraine, saying an attack on a pre-school “may constitute a war crime”.

The human rights charity said “a 220mm Uragan rocket dropped cluster munitions on the Sonechko nursery and kindergarten in the town of Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast” on Friday.

It added: “The strike may constitute a war crime.”

A former U.S. Army general said Monday morning on CNN that video does indeed indicate Russia is using cluster munitions against civilian targets.

Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling was asked by host Jim Sciutto about video the network had received from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv:

“Can you give us a sense, as we watch it, as to what weapon you think is being used here.”

Hertling responded:

“I know what weapon is being used, Jim. It’s a Smerch, part of a Smerch rocket attack, multiple-launch rocket attack.

“If you can continue to show the video, you see all the pops in the middle of explosions. Those are cluster munitions. It would be bad enough if these were artillery rounds falling on an apartment complex, those are cluster munitions.”

Former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, echoed Hertling’s comments, noting that the use of cluster bombs would constitute a crime against humanity:

Other videos also show what appears to be the use of cluster weapons:

Putin and his thug government need to be placed on trial by the International Criminal Court for their crimes.

Categories
Foreign Policy U.S. Senate War and Peace WTF?!

Lindsey Graham Stuns BBC Reporter By Telling Him The US Will Re-Invade Afghanistan

There’s an almost endless list of reasons that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has never and will never be president.

One of those reasons came from Graham’s mouth during an interview with BBC reporter Stephen Sackur.

The interview began with Graham kissing Donald Trump’s fat ass:

“He rebuilt the military. Whether you like Trump or not, whether you believe it’s Trump’s fault or Biden’s fault, here’s where we’re at as a world. The Taliban are not reformed, they’re not new. They have a view of the world out of sync with modern times.”

And then Graham suggested the United States would be invading Afghanistan again:

“But most importantly, they’re going to give safe haven to Al Qaeda who has ambitions to drive us out of the Middle East writ large. We will be going back into Afghanistan as we went back into Iraq and Syria.”

That led the incredulous reporter to ask:

“Are you serious?. You think the United States will once again, in the foreseeable future, put troops back into Afghanistan?”

The South Carolina Republican responded:

“We’ll have to. Because the threat will be so large.”

Clearly, Lindsey Graham doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. The U.S. military now has capabilities with drones and other remote weapons to destroy any terrorist threat before it can launch an attack on us. We’ve been picking off Al Qaeda and ISIS members for years now with drone and missile strikes.

Poor Lindsey. He wants so badly to be relevant. But he’s nothing more than a Trump groupie who’s missing his sugar daddy.

Categories
Donald Trump Foreign Policy The Trump Adminstration War and Peace

Turns Out Jared’s Middle East ‘Peace Plan’ Was All About Greed – Now The Region Is On Fire

Back in September of last year, just a couple of months before the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump bragged that he’d done the impossible: He’d created peace in the Middle East by facilitating a deal between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. He patted himself on the back and even gave some of the credit to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who had reportedly been a major factor in the deal.

Of course, the peace deal was little more than words on paper because it didn’t include the Palestinians, who were (and still are) demanding statehood, which truly would be a deal to celebrate.

Eight months after the so-called Abraham Accords, the Middle East is in flames yet again as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians flares up yet again and threatens to expand into a wider conflict.

What happened? Well, the simple way of putting it is that Jared made a deal premised on greed, wishful thinking, and the belief that his father-in-law would get a second term in office.

David A. Andelman notes in an op-ed he wrote for CNN, that the fragile idea of peace in the region is more threatened now than it has been in decades:

“The plan, in what has become known as Jared Kushner’s Vision for Peace — a tribute to the efforts by the former President’s son-in-law — spelled out in a detailed map for Israel to halt expansion of any new settlement activity on a large swath of the West Bank without American consent, which Kushner affirmed would not be given ‘for some time.'”

Translation: They kicked the can down the road. Israel agreed to stop building settlements, but not for “some time.” It was a deal, but not really.

Instead of actual peace, Bahrain, and the UAE inked deals to buy more military hardware from U.S. defense contractors and in exchange the White House would look the other way as Israel did whatever it damn well wanted.

Also, it should be noted that Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE weren’t at war when the “peace” pact was signed, so what exactly was the point? It was little more than political theater, meant to bolster Trump as polls showed Americans thought he had badly mishandled the COVID pandemic.

Where does the fake Trump-Kushner “peace” leave us? Quite simply, screwed. And if Israeli forces launch a ground invasion of Gaza in order to destroy Hamas, there’s a very real chance there can never be peace among Israel and its Arab neighbors.

With social media being such an essential part of the modern world (including in the Middle East), it’s only fitting that Twitter is alight with mockery and anger aimed directly at Jared, a man who has never accomplished a damn thing in his life, just like his father-in-law:

The Middle East is in complete chaos, and Jared Kushner is partially to blame. Is this asshole good at anything other than kissing ass and marrying a woman whose father became president?

 

Categories
Foreign Policy Fox News U.S. Senate War and Peace WTF?!

Tough Guy Lindsey Graham Is Now Threatening China With War

Now that he’s no longer on the White House’s speed dial and has become largely irrelevant, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is desperate to pretend he still has some modicum of power.

Proof of that was on display when Graham appeared on Fox News Monday, rattling the proverbial saber as he threatened China, even though he doesn’t make foreign policy.

Graham was asked this question by host Ben Domenech of The Federalist:

“What do you think we need to be doing in terms of sending China a clear message, given their increased military activity and all the different ways that they’re challenging us on the world stage?”

Graham responded:

“Stand up for the Uighurs. Your father-in-law is rolling over in his grave now, the America John McCain fought for and was willing to die for is changing in front of us. I like what Trump did, he stood up to the Chinese. You steal our stuff, you’re going to pay a price. Human rights still matters. Let the Chinese know that if you try to take Taiwan, we’ll have a war and you’ll lose it.”

Human rights still matter? Is that supposed to be a joke? Donald Trump never talked about human rights in China. He was far too busy starting a trade war that he lost and that may have also played a part in costing him a second term in office He even told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he completely approved of putting the Uighurs into concentration camps.

Now, however, we’re is supposed to listen to Graham the hypocrite and believe he’s earnest in his concern for minority groups in China? When will Lindsey do the same for minorities in his own country?

Sen. Graham needs to sit down and let the experts shape U.S. foreign policy, because it’s clear he’s auditioning for the 2024 GOP cattle call. As if he has a chance in hell of winning.