Russia’s tanks in Ukraine have a ‘jack-in-the-box’ design flaw. And the West has known about it since the Gulf war

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Russian tanks with their tops blown off are just the latest sign that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t going to plan.

Hundreds of Russian tanks are thought to have been destroyed since Moscow launched its offensive, with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Monday estimating it had lost as many as 580.

But Moscow’s problems go beyond the sheer number of tanks it has lost. Experts say battlefield images show Russian tanks are suffering from a defect that Western militaries have known about for decades and refer to as the “jack-in-the-box effect.” Moscow, they say, should have seen the problem coming.

The problem relates to how the tanks’ ammunition is stored. Unlike modern Western tanks, Russian ones carry multiple shells within their turrets. This makes them highly vulnerable as even an indirect hit can start a chain reaction that explodes their entire ammunition store of up to 40 shells.

The resulting shockwave can be enough to blast the tank’s turret as high as a two-story building, as can be seen in a recent video on social media. (Read more about Russia’s problem with its tanks in Ukraine HERE)

Ukraine Accuses Russia of Blackmail With Plan to Halt Gas to Poland

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Kyiv accused Russia of blackmailing Europe by cutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as the crisis in Ukraine deepened, with tensions surging in nearby Moldova and Moscow warning the West to back off.

NATO member and staunch Kremlin opponent Poland is among the European countries seeking the toughest possible sanctions against Russia for its invasion. Fellow alliance member Bulgaria is almost completely reliant on Russian gas imports.

Poland’s state-owned PGNiG (PGN.WA) said supplies from energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) via Ukraine and Belarus will be cut at 0800CET (0600GMT) on Wednesday, but Warsaw said it did not need to draw on reserves and its gas storage was 76% full.

“The gas system in Poland is balanced and customers can feel safe,” Minister in Charge of Energy Security Piotr Naimski said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on “unfriendly” countries to pay for gas imports in roubles, a move only a few buyers have implemented so far. (Read more from “Ukraine Accuses Russia of Blackmail With Plan to Halt Gas to Poland” HERE)

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Retired Canadian Lieutenant-General Under Police Investigation for Alleged Sexual Misconduct Is Now in Ukraine

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A retired Canadian Forces lieutenant-general under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct is now in Ukraine.

Trevor Cadieu left the Canadian military on April 5, according to the Department of National Defence. He travelled to Ukraine shortly after with the intention to volunteer for that country’s military which is battling a Russian invasion, multiple defence sources confirmed to this newspaper.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service which is investigating Cadieu originally had difficulty contacting the retired lieutenant-general but has since established communication with him.

Senior Canadian military leaders were briefed about Cadieu’s decision to travel to Ukraine, according to sources. . .

But Cadieu’s alleged victim said she cannot believe that an individual under police investigation was allowed to leave the country. “I find it shocking,” the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said in an interview with this newspaper Thursday. “What is going on here?” (Read more from “Retired Canadian Lieutenant-General Under Police Investigation for Alleged Sexual Misconduct Is Now in Ukraine” HERE)

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President of Major European Nation Wins Re-Election

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French President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected for a second term Sunday, defeating right-wing challenger Marine Le Pen.

Macron’s re-election designates him as the only French president in 20 years to win a second term. Voter turnout was also the lowest in decades, at around 72%, and only two percent lower than the 2017 election, when Macron beat Le Pen 66% to 34%, Axios reported.

Le Pen has since conceded defeat, but said the results indicated that “winds of change afoot,” and that she would continue to “stand up for the French people,” and against Macron, whose policies she said would “destroy France,” Axios noted.

Le Pen has attempted to rebrand herself and her party in recent years, Axios noted, but Macron insisted that her policies would divide France and make it a more hostile country toward minorities. He cited Le Pen’s plan to ban headscarves for Muslim women, stating that it could “create a civil war” during a Wednesday presidential debate. Macron also hammered Le Pen over her supposed ties to Russia.

Macron’s re-election comes amid grim approval ratings. Morning Consult recorded Macron’s approval rating at just 36%, while 59% disapproved of his performance and five percent remained undecided. (Read more from “President of Major European Nation Wins Re-Election” HERE)

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China Develops ‘Brain Control Weapons’ for Future Wars

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Last year, the U.S. government learned a variety of Chinese companies were helping develop biotechnology that can potentially alter the brain function of a human being.

That led to 34 entities in China being placed on the Federal Register’s blacklist, since they were a threat to U.S. national security, according to a report in Sofrep.

Among the companies are the Institute of Radiation and Radiation Medicine, the Institute of Basic Medicine, the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, the Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology, the Institute of Medical Equipment, the Institute of Bioengineering, the Field Blood Transfusion Institute, the Institute of Disease Control and Prevention and the Military Veterinary Research Institute.

The report noted: “Other companies such as the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 52nd Research Institute, Shaanxi Reactor Microelectronics Co. Ltd., and Shanghai AisinoChip Electronics Co., Ltd. were accused of supplying Chinese research institutions and the People’s Liberation Army with U.S.-origin items that were vital with developing these biotechnology weapons. Some items of U.S. origin were also used to support Iran’s missile and weapons programs. Similarly, companies from Turkey, Malaysia, and Georgia were also accused of supplying materials to Iran, which raises a security concern.”

Intelligence officials in America had also disclosed Beijing was pursuing an “intelligentization” of future warfare through such research. (Read more from “China Develops ‘Brain Control Weapons’ for Future Wars” HERE)

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US a ‘Co-Belligerent’ in Ukraine War, Legal Expert Says

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Conversations over the past week with current and former US officials about whether, to their knowledge, there is any real debate inside President Joe Biden’s administration over the approach it is taking in Ukraine has produced only slight variations of the same answer: “Not really.”

As of now, what the Biden policy amounts to is a replay along the lines of president Franklin D Roosevelt’s policy toward the war in Europe from 1939 to December 1941, during which the US was a co-belligerent all but in name.

In their public statements, Biden and his Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seem intent on obfuscating the true extent of American involvement. A story in the defense-industry-sponsored Politico quoted unnamed US officials as saying “military options in Ukraine aren’t on the table – echoing Biden’s repeated position of not wanting to spark World War III.” . . .

But US involvement goes deeper than arms sales and intelligence sharing. A Pentagon official who requested anonymity told me it is “likely we have a limited footprint on the ground in Ukraine, but under Title 50, not Title 10,” meaning US intelligence operatives and paramilitaries – but not regular military.

Bruce Fein, a constitutional expert and former associate attorney general in the Ronald Reagan administration, told me this week that in his view, “the United States and several NATO members have become co-belligerents with Ukraine against Russia by systematic and massive assistance to its military forces to defeat Russia.” (Read more from “Us a ‘Co-Belligerent’ in Ukraine War, Legal Expert Says” HERE)

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‘Food for Thought’: Putin’s Chilling Message as Russia Conducts Test of New Nuclear Weapon

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Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that it has conducted the first test launch of its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile – a nuclear weapon that President Vladimir Putin says will “provide food for thought for those who… try to threaten our country.”

The ministry said the missile was launched Wednesday from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia and its practice warheads hit designated targets at the Kura firing range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

“This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia’s security from external threats and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country,” Putin said, according to Reuters. . .

Putin and his officials said it’s capable of penetrating any prospective missile defense.

“It has no analogues in the world and won’t have for a long time to come,” Reuters quoted him as saying. (Read more from “‘Food for Thought’: Putin’s Chilling Message as Russia Conducts Test of New Nuclear Weapon” HERE)

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The Scientific Meltdown Over a Controversial Discovery of ‘Biblical Sodom’

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What everyone agrees on is that something unusual happened at Tall el-Hammam, an ancient settlement near the Dead Sea.

In a layer of ancient earth, archaeologists claim to have found evidence of an apocalyptic event: Melted rooftops. Disintegrated pottery. Unusual patterns in the rock formations that can be associated with intense heat. For another three to six centuries after 1650 B.C., the settlement’s 100 acres lay fallow.

But when Steven Collins, the principal archaeologist at Tall el-Hammam, considered the scientists’ evidence in an article that ran last year in the respected scientific journal Nature, he claimed that the incineration matched with the place and timing of the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah. This brought down on himself what in academic circles might be called hellfire. . .

Led by Collins, dean of the College of Archaeology at Trinity Southwest University, 21 experts from 19 research institutions weighed in on Tall el-Hammam’s remains, concluding that the nature of the destruction suggested a massive airburst or comet.

“The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a 50-m-wide bolide” — a meteor that explodes in midair — “detonated with 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.” (Read more from “The Scientific Meltdown Over a Controversial Discovery of ‘Biblical Sodom’” HERE)

Ukraine Used Cluster Munitions — Which Many Countries Have Banned — To Force Russian Troops Out of a Village, Report Says

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Ukraine fired cluster munition rockets, which have been banned in more than 100 countries under an international treaty, to drive Russian troops out of a village last month, The New York Times reported.

Ukrainian forces retook the villager of Husarivka, a rural hamlet located 60 miles south of the city of Kharkiv, on March 26, shortly after it was seized by invading Russian forces.

The Times said its reporters identified a 220-millimeter Uragan artillery rocket that had been fired at Russian troops by Ukrainian forces on either March 6 or March 7.

The Uragan is a cluster munition. Cluster bombs were banned by more than 100 countries as part of the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions. However, Russia, Ukraine, and the US were among the countries that didn’t sign the agreement.

Cluster bombs are a type of rocket that break apart into smaller bombs after it has been fired to cover as wide an impact area as possible. Arms campaigners and rights groups say that because of its indiscriminate design, the rockets place civilians in danger. (Read more from “Ukraine Used Cluster Munitions — Which Many Countries Have Banned — To Force Russian Troops Out of a Village, Report Says” HERE)

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Booby-Trapped Bridge Blows up as Russian Convoy Drives Over It: Ukrainian Forces

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Ukrainian special forces claim to have blown up a bridge in Ukraine as Russian troops drove military vehicles over it on Thursday.

The Ukrainian military said the Russian vehicles were traveling to Izyum in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have been staging for assaults in the Donbas region. Photos shared by the Ukrainian special forces show that explosives had apparently been placed under the bridge in anticipation of a Russian column heading toward it.

“A group of SSO of Ukraine blew up a bridge with enemy technology heading to Izyum,” Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said in a Facebook post.

“Putting the explosive in a designated place, operators of the SSO of Ukraine waited for the enemy, who without any doubt drove to the death meeting.”

(Read more from “Booby-Trapped Bridge Blows up as Russian Convoy Drives Over It: Ukrainian Forces” HERE)

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