Ukraine Invasion: Part 26

[MagicFox]

Here we are, on top of our rock

Also, this is a statement from Biden rather than an opinion piece so if you're worry is the source I don't think that's an issue. Maybe there's something quite meaningful about this statement appearing the day after that other NYT article!

I love that song - and know it well, as my son did it for his LAMDA Grade 7 musical theatre exam, so we heard it rather a lot.

Sorry to disallusion you though, but I am not sure it is the best song for the Ukranians though. Is is from the musical Man of La Mancha which of course is about Don Quixote - known more generally here as the man who tilted at windmills and wanted to get back to a more glorious and chivalrous age. So there is an underlying layer of irony there in the song, despite (it of course) being sung by the hero straight as it is what he believes. And maybe in a different age, ie our age, it can become unironic.

If you want a song that actually catches this spirit, the one that springs to mind, somewhat oddly, is the Star Spangled Banner - except of course that it is very specific (and the flag is described). But while (sometimes) I can't stand Americans, it is that sentiment that is actually sincerely in the song:

O say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hail'd
At the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd
Were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?

PS DS got a Distinction in that LAMDA exam, so he clearly sung it rather well.

@MagicFox MagicFox · Today 08:51
Also, this is a statement from Biden rather than an opinion piece so if you're worry is the source I don't think that's an issue. Maybe there's something quite meaningful about this statement appearing the day after that other NYT article!

Thank you MagicFox, you may be right, and it some comfort, that maybe there is something meaningful about this appearing the next day.

I am worried that the NYT is very influential and that opinion piece article will work like a worm in the bud promoting the Kremlin narrative as fact to the US/English speaking world. I am glad that you say there has been a backlash against the writer.

My.aplogies about sanctions opinion and their limitation. I just feel military intervention and defensive action is better than a long drawn out war.
Good news from Biden providing long range missiles to Ukraine to defend themselves from the onslaught.

I am worried that the NYT is very influential and that opinion piece article will work like a worm in the bud promoting the Kremlin narrative as fact to the US/English speaking world.

I'm sure "worm in the bud" is exactly what's going on, ScrollingLeaves.

One of the techniques of Russian influence campaigns is to choose influential people and bombard them through multiple social media channels (and sometimes in real life, if they rate highly enough). Feed them enough material continuously and they feel like there is weight of opinion that ought to at least be considered. Or that their peer group thinks X (a well known sales technique); or if they 're contrarian tell them The Authorities want them to believe not-X, and they''ll trot meekly into the X fold to "stick it to the Man".

And so on. You just have to look at the shit that influential people were coming out about re Covid to see it at work. All those musicians with large fan-bases suddenly deciding they were virology experts.

Key Takeaways

Russian forces are increasingly focused on advancing on Slovyansk from the southeast of Izyum and west of Lyman.

Russian forces are making gains within and around Severodonetsk.

Russian forces are likely hoping to advance on Lysychansk from Toshkivka in order to avoid having to fight across the Severskyi Donets River from Severodonetsk.

The Russian grouping in Kherson Oblast is likely feeling the pressure of the limited Ukrainian counteroffensive in northwestern Kherson Oblast, especially as much of the Russian operational focus is currently on the capture of Severodonetsk.

It's worth reading the whole of today's ISW conflict reports as they are surprisingly optomistic. www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-updates

Being cynical I wonder if they are putting a good gloss on things but until I see more evidence of that Ill take it at face value

+++

The Kyiv Independent, [01/06/2022 01:20]
⚡️Russia’s Gazprom halts gas supplies to Denmark’s Orsted, Germany via Shell deal.

⚡️ Financial Times: EU, UK
impose insurance ban on Russian oil cargoes.

The Kyiv Independent, [01/06/2022 02:24]
⚡️ UN: Ombudsman’s dismissal ‘contrary to international standards.’

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said on Facebook on May 31 that the Verkhovna Rada’s dismissal of Lyudmyla Denisova “undermines the independence of this important human rights institution in Ukraine.” The institution decried the “unnecessarily speedy procedure” and the lack of explanation for her dismissal. [a rare critical stance towards Ukrainian actions]

⚡️WSJ: OPEC considers suspending Russia from oil deal.

⚡️Zelensky: ‘Ukraine losing 60-100 soldiers per day in combat.’

In an interview with Newsmax TV Channel, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation “is very difficult.” “We’re losing 60-100 soldiers per day killed in action and around 500 people wounded in action. So we are holding our defensive perimeters.” He added that Ukraine and its people are the “defensive perimeter” for the world.

The Kyiv Independent, [01/06/2022 10:52]
⚡️ Russian nuclear forces hold maneuver drills.

[more bashing of those sabres eh?]

The Kyiv Independent, [01/06/2022 11:15]
⚡️ Only 50 people per day get medical treatment in Mariupol; only 4 pharmacies open.

The 150,000 people remaining in the mostly destroyed city have almost no access to healthcare, according to Petro Andriushchenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol.

+++

⚡️Operational summary of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

In the Slovyansk direction, the Russian invaders regrouped: due to losses in the area of
the village of Dovhenke, they had to withdraw part of their units to Izyum. This is stated in the new code of the General Staff.

The offensive of the invaders continues in the Donetsk, Sieverodonetsk, and Bakhmut directions. In particular, in Sieverodonetsk the enemy entrenched himself in the center. Tensions are rising along the northern border, where the Russians are fortifying their positions.

In the south, in the Black Sea, only one carrier of Caliber cruise missiles is now in combat readiness.

🇺🇦Never attack but defend. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not intend to strike at the territory of the Russian Federation, including with the use of American MLRS, as Moscow has repeatedly stated.

⚡️UK and EU agree to ban insurance on ships carrying Russian oil In this regard, the Russian Federation will lose access to the largest insurance company Lloyd's of London. Helima Croft, head of the commodity strategy at international investment bank RBC Capital Markets, said the importance of such a move by the UK and the EU cannot be overestimated. According to her, the refusal to provide insurance services will colossally limit the ability of the Russian Federation to export its oil. According to Helima Croft, this is one of the toughest measures in the European arsenal.

⚡️If Putin manages to gain a foothold in Donbas, there will be no peace in Europe, – German Foreign Minister

I think the Americans are making the point that they will supply the systems whilst also defusing the potential screams from the kremlin that the us are at war with them and just using Ukraine.

I wouldn't read too much into it. Its managing the information war.

I don't think I would take Christopher Caldwell as entirely unbiased, to be fair. His book on Muslim immigration into Europe is somewhat alarmist (though he says it isn't and he is pro-immigration, you really wouldn't know it from the book) and he seems slightly prone to taking stances which are oppositional to America, or dubious about the Civil Rights movement. In fact I have got a distinct feeling that he enjoys poking hornets' nests by implying American blame for all sorts of things, not just (as in this article) the paranoia about America's very existence of a sick and ageing autocrat in another country.

My feeling is that he would be ripe for propagandising by Putin's disinformation network, because it would chime in with his own tendencies. His "springboard" for this opinion piece was another opinion piece, in a French paper, and I wonder who sent it to him, let's say. (I may be doing him an injustice, and he may regularly read centre-right Le Figaro every day to get a window on French opinion. Hmmm. Is he a French speaker with links to France? I don't know the answer to that.)

But I do feel that saying "because some Russians genuinely believe they are entitled to ownership of Ukraine, America should have fallen in with their (not as powerful) European neighbours who had to lie back and accept the Russian nation's rape of Crimea"", which is what his sixth paragraph amounts to, is disingenuous. I think he may have forgotten, or hopes that his readers have forgotten, the completely unprovoked invasion of Crimea, the armed annexation of a sovereign nation's territory, which while mercifully non-destructive led to America's concern that Ukraine should not be left defenceless against its aggressive and expansionist neighbour.

The invasion of Ukraine in force was not peaceful, and was never going to have few casualties. It started with bombardment, which is unlikely not to cause harm to life and property, and an armed incursion by tens of thousands of troops who have turned out in too many cases to be barbarians.

On that subject, didn't see anybody link to this piece - academics are presumably the classic worm in the bud, given that they are educating the next generation -
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-61597405

On the other hand, the risk is that if this kind of speech is shut down, how do we prevent that being abused to supress essential truths as well as propaganda and lies? It seems an impossible struggle. We know that simply repeating untruths makes people believe them - I think I have even seen studies that show this, that people can be persuaded to give credence to complete nonsense and which even they know to be nonsense by seeing it stated repeatedly - people start to doubt themselves and think "there must be something in it". Especially people who have been trained to consider matters from both sides, and see things as complex - that very mindset can lend people to doubt that the world is round, and particularly in matters like this.

The only somewhat solution I have found is that if you find somebody who is clearly spouting eg Kremlin propaganda, you need to assume that everything they say is tainted by it - even in unrelated areas, but what if they then stumble upon a truth? And what do you do if they are tenured in a university?

well, good!!

The Kyiv Independent, [01/06/2022 12:59]
⚡️ Scholz: Germany to send 'most modern' air defense systems to Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the country would send its "most modern air defense system," the IRIS-T, to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

"This will enable Ukraine to protect an entire city from Russian air attacks," he said.

I can't keep up with this thread. The last I read was that there were sugar and salt rationing plans. I did manage to look into this a few days ago and note one county is not exporting (I think it was India to keep the cost down for it's people) and another isn't exporting as they will be using sugar to help with the global limited energy and making industrial fuel from it (I think it was a South American country). Is there anymore on sugar?

o😮

Ukraine Now
@UkraineNowMedia
⚡️NYT: Russian General Dvornikov, who was allegedly put in charge of all Russian forces in Ukraine a few months ago, has likely been removed from command. Sources of the publication wrote that the general was not seen for two weeks and he stopped showing up at the front.

Wannago thank you for linking to that article.

I agree very strongly with all of your post.

We have to get better at handling misinformation, without losing the benefits of being open to hearing and sifting information.

I have no idea how we as a nation do that. And retreating to a state of paralysis because we "don't know what to believe" is just another win for the actor pushing the misinformation.

@PerkingFaintly · Today 09:50
@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · Today 11:24
@Wannago · Today 12:00

Thank you all for your detailed answers regarding that NYT opinion article by Christopher Caldwell.

I have just read that BBC link Wannago about the academics promoting pro Russian propaganda. The one who began by saying in a tweet that Bucha had been staged was particularly irritating. As you imply though cancelling is not usually the way to go, though I think we do cancel anyone denying the holocaust, or inciting/grooming people to join Islamic militant groups or white supremecist groups ( correct me if I am wrong).

@Ijsbear 11:03

Thank you for your key takeaways. It is such a help to be able to see them.

Zelensky: ‘Ukraine losing 60-100 soldiers per day in combat.’

In an interview with Newsmax TV Channel, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation “is very difficult.” “We’re losing 60-100 soldiers per day killed in action and around 500 people wounded in action. So we are holding our defensive perimeters.” He added that Ukraine and its people are the “defensive perimeter” for the world.

It feels so awful just watching, and knowing it is an unfair fight for them. All those cities largely razed to the ground, and so many young people killed and wounded.

The Ukrainian winners of Eurovision apparently auctioned off their Eurovision trophy and the guy's hat he was wearing to raise money to buy 3 drones for the Ukrainian army. That's brilliant!

I feel better about the balance having been redressed somewhat regarding that NYT Caldwell opinion yesterday, having just seen that yesterday the NYT also published another opinion piece by Thomas Friedman
“I Thought Putin Invaded Only Ukraine. I Was Wrong.” He goes on to say how Putin effectively invaded Europe, which is now more united than the US because of it, and he highlights the highly aggressive nature of the invasion.

For some strange reason I was able to read it, though I have not subscribed. That may be a glitch but here it is just in case:
www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/opinion/putin-europe-ukraine.html

@Natsku · Today 13:54
The Ukrainian winners of Eurovision apparently auctioned off their Eurovision trophy and the guy's hat he was wearing to raise money to buy 3 drones for the Ukrainian army. That's brilliant

Good news. Thank you.

From Al Jazeera
Annalena Baerbock has described this horror perfectly:
In a speech to the German parliament, Annalena Baerbock said Russia was fighting a war to “depopulate and extinguish civilisation” in the eastern Ukrainian region.

“City by city, village by village, Russian troops are destroying them from a safe distance,” she said. “First the missiles, then the warplanes with artillery, and then, when everything is flattened, the tanks roll in.”

Baerbock added that Berlin needed to supply Kyiv with more artillery, drones and air defence weapons as it attempts to hold off the Russian onslaught.

mobile.twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1532003904321425409

A very small cause for a laugh that I came across today:
nitter.net/Sputnik_Not/status/1530521234269667329#m

More good news: Patron, the bomb-sniffing Jack Russell, has been awarded the Dog-manitarian Palm at the Cannes Film Festival
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10864369/Patron-Jack-Russell-honoured-Cannes-Film-Festival-digging-Russian-mines-Ukraine.html

🇺🇸 The United States has officially announced a new $700 million military aid package for Ukraine.

It will include advanced MLRS and HIMARS, helicopters, radars, Stingers, Javelins, etc.