U.S. Forces Now on the Ground in Ukraine; Russia Deploys ‘Killjoy’ Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles to Belarus, UK Intel Says

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By American Military News. U.S. military personnel are now on the ground in Ukraine, keeping track of and inspecting weapons the U.S. has shipped to Ukrainian forces, a senior defense official announced during a Pentagon background briefing on Monday. These U.S. personnel are some of the first the Pentagon has acknowledged have entered Ukraine since Russia launched its large scale invasion of the country in February.

The senior defense official who spoke on background during an official Pentagon event, said, “U.S. personnel have recently resumed on-site inspections to assess weapon stocks in country whenever and wherever the security conditions allow.” The official said “the return of our defense attaché and Office of Defense Cooperation personnel in country has allowed us to resume this critical function.”

The U.S. Defense attaché for Ukraine is U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Garrick Harmon.

The Biden administration ordered U.S. troops out of Ukraine in February just days before Russia launched its invasion. The Associated Press reported the administration did return some troops to provide security at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv earlier this year. (Read more from “U.S. Forces Now on the Ground in Ukraine” HERE)

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Most Troops Deployed for Ukraine Response Still in Europe

By Military Times. Roughly 20,000 U.S. troops were mobilized throughout central and eastern Europe in the early months of this year, first in anticipation of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and then in response to it.

Most of those troops are still posted in partner nations, training with local troops and otherwise assuring NATO countries that the U.S. will respond if Russia takes the fight beyond Ukraine.

“So right now, the intent is to keep troop levels at the same level as they’ve been,” a senior military official told Military Times on Monday during a background briefing. “We have no announcements to make in terms of any changes to that in the near term.”

A small number of those originally mobilized have since redeployed, according to the latest numbers.

The remaining members of the 300-soldier XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters deployment returned from Germany over the weekend, the unit announced Monday. (Read more from “Russia Deploys ‘Killjoy’ Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles to Belarus, UK Intel Says” HERE)

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Russia Deploys ‘Killjoy’ Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles to Belarus, UK Intel Says

By Washington Examiner. Russia has deployed some of its feared hypersonic ballistic missiles to Belarus, according to U.K. intelligence.

The AS-24 Killjoy, or “Kinzhal,” is seen by many as the pride of the Russian military, being one area in which Russia possibly surpasses the capabilities of the United States. The missile, launched from a MiG-31K fighter, is nearly impossible to intercept due to its hypersonic speed, can carry either a conventional or nuclear payload, and has a range of around 1,240 miles, according to an analysis from the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

The purpose of the alleged deployment of the advanced missiles to Belarus is debated, with the most prominent theories portraying it as a warning to the West, a way to further bring Belarus into the war in Ukraine, or as a sign that it could further increase its missile strikes into Ukraine, which has battered its infrastructure in recent weeks.

“Russia has fielded KILLJOY since 2018, but it has not previously been deployed in Belarus. Russia has occasionally launched these weapons during the Ukraine war, but stocks are likely very limited,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense claimed in an intelligence update on the war in Ukraine. (Read more from “Russia Deploys ‘Killjoy’ Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles to Belarus, UK Intel Says” HERE)

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Netanyahu Poised for Comeback in Israel Election, Exit Polls Show

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Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared well placed to return to power after exit polls following Tuesday’s election showed his right-wing bloc heading for a narrow majority lifted by a strong showing from his far-right allies.

Israel’s longest-serving premier, on trial over corruption charges which he denies, was poised to take 61-62 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, according to Israeli television exit polls.

The early exit polls may differ from the final result of the election, which is not expected until later in the week but the results pointed to a stronger-than-expected showing by the right.

Israel’s fifth election in less than four years exasperated many Israeli voters. (Read more from “Netanyahu Poised for Comeback in Israel Election, Exit Polls Show” HERE)

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Cryptic Messages Could Prove Wuhan Lab Leak After Scientists Refer to ‘Opening Pandora’s Box’ Weeks Before Outbreak

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. . .An expert on language used by China’s officials believes he has found clues in phrases such as scientists talking about opening a “Pandora’s box”.

Toy Reid was part of a team of researchers who worked on a US Senate investigation into the idea that Covid leaked from a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). . .

He was able find a way to access messages archived on the website of the WIV and began decoding the language. . .

But then he came across one message lamented a lack of “equipment and technology standards, no design and construction teams, and no experience operating or maintaining” such a lab. . .

One message read “once you have opened the stored test tubes, it is just as if having opened Pandora’s Box” adding “these viruses come without a shadow and leave without a trace”. (Read more from “Cryptic Messages Could Prove Wuhan Lab Leak After Scientists Refer to ‘Opening Pandora’s Box’ Weeks Before Outbreak” HERE)

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Terror Wave in Judea and Samaria Continues as Israel Heads to Elections

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A Hamas-affiliated terrorist opened fire with an M-16 rifle in the Givat Ha’avot neighborhood of Kiryat Arba near Hebron on Saturday night, killing one and wounding five. This is yet another terror incident in a wave of terror attacks in Judea and Samaria as Israel heads to elections to decide the 25th Knesset.

While initial reports claimed that the shooting targeted the home of MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, an outspoken member of Israel’s right-wing bloc and chairman of the Otzma Yehudit party, the IDF later clarified that the terror attack did not target the lawmaker, despite being carried out near his home.

The victim was identified as Ronen Hanania, a 49-year-old resident of the area. Hanania’s son Daniel, who was in the car with his father at the time of the attack and one of the wounded, told Channel 12 News: “We were shot at; my father was hit in the head and I watched him die. I knew there was no chance he’d survive.” After escaping the car, the younger Hanania was helped by several Arabs in a shop, who bandaged his hand and applied a homemade tourniquet to his wound before he was eventually evacuated to a nearby hospital.

Ofer Ohana, a Kiryat Arba community activist and paramedic, was shot and seriously injured as he responded to the scene. The Rescuers Without Borders organization issued a statement, saying, “We are all praying for the recovery of Ofer Ohana, a Rescuers Without Borders Judea and Samaria volunteer who was wounded in the attack near Kiryat Arba when he rushed to the scene to save a life.” Two Israelis and an Arab were also among the other victims, all of whom sustained minor injuries. (Read more from “Terror Wave in Judea and Samaria Continues as Israel Heads to Elections” HERE)

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Russia Is Right: The West Lied About Ukraine

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This is from the memoir of current head of CIA William Burns. In 1989 he served under Secretary of State James Baker in a strategic planning role as communism fell. Here he outlines negotiations re German reunification – take note of highlighted part in context of Ukraine now.

More on the negotiations – the Russians aren’t lying about NATO:

More from Burns. Here he is discussing how the Russian foreign policy establishment felt about NATO expansion in 1995 under Yeltsin, long before Putin was on the scene. No one listened then either:

Clinton went ahead with NATO expansion despite warnings from US embassy in Moscow that it was a bad idea. Here is Burns noting that George Kennan, who developed original containment policy toward USSR, viewed it as huge error:

And here is Burns summing up his view of NATO expansion – keep in mind he published this in 2019, before this current war.

(For more from the author of “Russia Is Right: The West Lied About Ukraine” please click HERE)

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Putin: ‘New World Order’ Will Compensate for Russia’s Losses in Ukraine War

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will “accelerate” the inauguration of a “new world order based on law and justice” in which economic and political gains will justify the losses sustained thus far, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We’re facing a historic milestone,” Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club in a Thursday address. “Ahead of us is possibly the most dangerous, unpredictable, and, at the same time, crucial decade since the end of the Second World War.”

Putin took the stage against a backdrop of international anxiety about the risk of nuclear escalation in Ukraine and domestic Russian anger that a series of Ukrainian successes forced the Kremlin to send unprepared conscripts to the front lines. Putin insisted that “a flare-up” of some sort “would have happened regardless of how Russia could have acted in Ukraine” due to a purported decline in Western power and maintained that his policies would “accelerate” that process.

“Yes, there are some issues — I refer to the losses incurred due to the special military operation — and I always say that, yes, there are economic losses, but there are also enormous acquisitions,” Putin said through an interpreter. “What is happening, indubitably, in the end — I emphasize that — in the end, will benefit Russia and its future. Why is that? Because it’ll help reinforce our sovereignty in all domains, and in particular, in the economic field.” . . .

Yet Putin countered that Russia has proven more resilient than Western officials would have expected and pivoted to an argument that a “new world order should be based on law and justice” — a prospect, he insisted, that would require the formation of a new international financial system impervious to U.S. sanctions. (Read more from “Putin: ‘New World Order’ Will Compensate for Russia’s Losses in Ukraine War” HERE)

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Hungarian Foreign Minister Says Ukraine-Russia War Would Not Have Happened Under Trump

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The foreign minister of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, in part, blamed the current war between Ukraine and Russia on President Joe Biden in an exclusive interview Wednesday with the Daily Caller. He argued that if the 2020 election had played out differently, there would be no war.

Szijjártó sat down for an interview with the Caller after speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) International Ministerial Conference and discussed a variety of different issues affecting the U.S. and Europe, including the war in Ukraine. Throughout the interview, Szijjártó made it clear he believes that if former President Donald Trump and former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel were still in power, the war would not have started.

“The European economy is suffering. Europe is suffering. That is why the only solution for Europe is peace. But definitely, peace not will come with this behavior. What the U.S. administration has been showing. Why? Because in order to create peace, you would need to talk. You would need to communicate,” Szijjártó said during the interview. “And you know, I am usually under very heavy pressure and criticism of why I still talk to the Russians. But, you know, I mean, you cannot afford not to talk to them when you are almost hundred percent dependent on their energy sources and Russia is a reality in Europe, and Russia will remain a reality in Europe regardless of the outcome of this war.”

He continued:

So, you know, what we are definitely sure about is that if your presidential election had played out differently in 2020, this war would not have broken out. As much as I can be sure about things that didn’t happen, I am pretty sure that this would have been the case because we are currently, globally speaking, we are currently lacking leaders. President Trump was a real leader. Chancellor Merkel was a real leader. So what I know is that if Chancellor Merkel. And if President Trump had stayed in power, this war, I’m pretty sure, would not have been broken out. So that’s why what we hope is that there will be some American-Russian talks in this regard because don’t be misled. Don’t be misled. This is necessary to create peace. Russian-American talks.

(Read more from “Hungarian Foreign Minister Says Ukraine-Russia War Would Not Have Happened Under Trump” HERE)

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Russia Walks Back Risk of Dirty Bomb Plot Amid NATO Warnings

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Russia has downplayed the risk of a dirty bomb plot in Ukraine just days after claiming Ukrainian officials planned to stage such an attack following a chorus of NATO warnings rejecting the allegation.

“We have got what we wanted,” Russian deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters at the United Nations. “If this all does not happen, I do not mind people saying that Russia is crying wolf because we are speaking about a terrible disaster that might potentially threaten the whole Earth.”

That sanguine tone makes a marked contrast with charges leveled over the first two days of the week as Russian military officials claimed that Ukrainian officials had reached the “final stage” of a scheme to detonate a dirty bomb and blame Moscow. Western officials denounced the allegation as “transparently false” and aired their suspicions that the Kremlin had a similar plan in mind.

“Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday while visiting the USS George H.W. Bush, the American aircraft carrier leading NATO’s Neptune Strike exercises in the Mediterranean. “We have seen this pattern before, from Syria to Ukraine. Russia must not use false pretexts for further escalation. The world is watching closely.” (Read more from “Russia Walks Back Risk of Dirty Bomb Plot Amid NATO Warnings” HERE)

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Country’s National Health Service Abandons Gender-Affirming Model of Care

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After conducting a systematic review of evidence, England’s National Health Service has proposed new guidelines for treating trans-identifying youth, abandoning their previous endorsement of the “gender-affirming” model of care for a more cautious approach to treating gender dysphoria in minors.

The NHS now recognizes that children and adolescents identifying as transgender may be experiencing a “transient phase” and warns that doctors should not encourage them to change their names and pronouns, as “social transition” is not a “neutral act” and could have “significant effects” in terms of “psychological functioning.”

The new guidelines “reflect evidence that in most cases gender incongruence does not persist into adolescence” for young children. The guidance states that instead of encouraging transition, physicians should take “a watchful approach,” directly contrasting the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2018 policy, equating “watchful waiting” with a “harmful” form of “conversion therapy.”

The NHS guidelines indicate that services will now be led by medical doctors rather than therapists, and will consider the impact of autism and other common co-occurring mental health issues. The new guidance also bans the use of puberty blockers in patients under 18, making exceptions only in certain cases for strict clinical trials. (Read more from “Country’s National Health Service Abandons Gender-Affirming Model of Care” HERE)

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15,000 Ukrainians Decide to Have a Mass Orgy if Russia Deploys Nuclear Weapons

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. . .A large group of Ukrainians has decided to organize a mass orgy to take place on a hill outside of Kyiv in case Putin does launch a nuclear bomb.

More than 15,000 have already registered on Telegram for the sex party. The mass orgy will take place on a hill outside the city where the participants would be asked to decorate their hands with colored stripes, symbolizing their sexual interests. If you are considering participating – three stripes are for anal sex lovers and four stripes are for oral sex lovers.

The organizers claim that the event, in which the locals will give up the atomic shelters and bunkers in favor of a sexual celebration, is so popular that “for some reason, all the apartments with a view of the hill have disappeared from real estate sites.” . . .

A local woman said that the program embodies the optimistic Ukrainian spirit and growing self-confidence over their chances of winning the war in an interview with Radio Free Europe.

“It’s the opposite of despair. Even in the worst scenario, people are looking for something good,” she said. “This is the mega-optimism of the Ukrainians.” (Read more from “15,000 Ukrainians Decide to Have a Mass Orgy if Russia Deploys Nuclear Weapons” HERE)

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