Posts

Big Tech Censoring of Ukraine War Goes Into Hyperdrive

/0 Comments/in , /by

Google has sent a warning shot across the world, ominously informing media outlets, bloggers, and content creators that it will no longer tolerate certain opinions when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

[In April], Google AdSense sent a message to a myriad of publishers, including [this article’s original publisher,] MintPress News, informing us that, “Due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause monetization of content that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war.” This content, it went on to say, “includes, but is not limited to, claims that imply victims are responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim-blaming, such as claims that Ukraine is committing genocide or deliberately attacking its own citizens.”

This builds on a similar message Google’s subsidiary YouTube released [in March], stating, “Our Community Guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events. We are now removing content about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine that violates this policy.” YouTube went on to say that it had already permanently banned more than a thousand channels and 15,000 videos on these grounds. . .

Journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin was deeply troubled by the news. “It is really disturbing that this is the trend that we are on” . . .

[And journalist Chris Hedges wrote,] “Censorship is the last resort of desperate and unpopular regimes. It magically appears to make a crisis go away. It comforts the powerful with the narrative they want to hear, one fed back to them by courtiers in the media, government agencies, think tanks, and academia.” (Read more from “Big Tech Censoring of Ukraine War Goes Into Hyperdrive” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Ex-U.S. Marine Killed in Ukraine Was Hired by Private Company to Fight There; Two Army Vets Wounded

/0 Comments/in , /by

By New York Post. A former US Marine who was hired to fight alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russian invaders was killed this week.

Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was being paid by a private military contracting company to fight in Ukraine when he died on Monday, family members told CNN.

“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it,” Cancel’s mother, Rebecca Cabrera told the network.

Cancel flew to Poland on March 12 and arrived in Ukraine the next day to fight alongside men from “all different countries,” Cabrera reportedly said.

The circumstances of Cancel’s death were not immediately clear, and officials that notified his family of the death had not recovered him, his mom explained. (Read more from “Ex-U.S. Marine Killed in Ukraine Was Hired by Private Company to Fight There” HERE)

________________________________________________

Two Americans, Both Former Army, Wounded by Artillery in Ukraine Combat

By Coffee Ordie. Two Americans volunteering in Ukraine’s armed forces were wounded by artillery fire during combat in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, April 27.

US Army veterans Paul Gray and Manus McCaffery were on a mission to destroy a Russian tank near Orikhiv, a small city in the path of Russia’s ongoing military offensive in the south and east of Ukraine. The pair were waiting for a Russian tank to appear on a road when an artillery round struck nearby at roughly 2:35 p.m., Gray told Coffee or Die Magazine via text message. McCaffery suffered serious shrapnel wounds to his face, head, shoulders, and torso. A concrete wall fell onto Gray, momentarily trapping him and injuring his left foot.

“Manus is really bad…I’m sick about it,” Gray said, adding that he was about five feet from McCaffery when the artillery struck. “I couldn’t help him because a concrete wall fell on my legs. He remained talking the whole time. Extremely hard young man.”

A native of Ohio, McCaffery, 20, served in the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment and deployed to Afghanistan. Gray, who is originally from Texas, deployed to Iraq three times as a soldier in the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Both men are no longer in the US armed forces and were civilians when they volunteered to join Ukraine’s armed forces via legal pathways. The two American volunteers served within a Ukrainian special operations unit and worked together as a team targeting Russian tanks and vehicles with US-made Javelin anti-tank missiles. (Read more from “Two Americans, Both Former Army, Wounded by Artillery in Ukraine Combat” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Russian Spy Chief Says U.S., Poland Plotting Division of Ukraine

/0 Comments/in , /by

Russia’s foreign spy chief accused the United States and Poland on Thursday of plotting to gain a sphere of influence in Ukraine, a claim denied by Warsaw as disinformation aimed at sowing distrust among Kyiv’s supporters.

Sergei Naryshkin, the chief of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), cited unpublished intelligence that he said showed the United States and Poland, NATO allies, were plotting to restore Polish control over part of western Ukraine.

“According to the intelligence received by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Washington and Warsaw are working on plans to establish Poland’s tight military and political control over its historical possessions in Ukraine,” Naryshkin said in a rare statement released by the SVR. . .

Poland has ruled some territories that are now part of Ukraine at different times in the past, most recently between the two world wars. Western Ukraine, including the city of Lviv, were absorbed into the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two.Russian Spy Chief Says U.S., Poland Plotting Division of Ukraine. (Read more from “Russian Spy Chief Says U.S., Poland Plotting Division of Ukraine” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

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

/0 Comments/in , /by

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)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Zelensky Warns the World to Prepare for Putin to Unleash a Nuclear Attack

/0 Comments/in , /by

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the world should “prepare” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons in his invasion of Ukraine – and urged air-raid shelters and anti-radiation medicine to be readied for the potential calamity.

In an interview with CNN that aired Sunday, Zelensky was asked whether Putin would deploy chemical or nuclear tactical weapons to further his military goals in Ukraine.

“Not only me – all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried because it can be not real information, but it can be truth,” Zelensky told host Jake Tapper in an interview from his presidential office in Kyiv. . .

​In an interview with Ukrainian media Saturday night, Zelensky warned of the real possibility of a nuclear attack. ​

“We shouldn’t wait for the moment when Russia decides to use nuclear weapons​.​ … We must prepare for that​,” the Ukrainian leader said. ​(Read more from “Zelensky Warns the World to Prepare for Putin to Unleash a Nuclear Attack” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Zelensky Calls on Biden to Visit Ukraine: ‘Come Here to See’

/0 Comments/in , /by

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called on President Biden to visit Ukraine to “come here to see” the devastation caused by Russian forces.

In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday, Zelensky was asked if there were any plans for Biden to visit the country.

“I think he will. I mean, it’s his decision, of course,” Zelensky told anchor Jake Tapper on Friday. “And about the safety situation, it depends. I mean that. But I think he’s the leader of the United States, and that’s why he should come here to see.”

Biden previously told reporters during a visit to Poland last month that he wanted to visit the war-torn country but claimed others were preventing him.

“They will not let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine,” Biden said at a briefing on humanitarian operations in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland, without clarifying who was holding him back. (Read more from “Zelensky Calls on Biden to Visit Ukraine: ‘Come Here to See'” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.