Tag: World War 5

Planet Watch

Podcast: Oppenheimer and techno-hubris

OppieIn Episode 185 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg reviews the Oppenheimer movie, and discusses the legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer 78 years after Hiroshima. Manhattan Project dissidents like Leo Szilard petitioned to stop the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. But such sentiment was overruled by Harry Truman's geopolitical imperatives—and what Freeman Dyson called the "technical arrogance" of Oppenheimer and his circle. Now, as open Russian nuclear threats continue to mount in Europe, we are poised at the brink of unparalleled catastrophe. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image via The Day After Trinity)

Europe

Belarus: Russian nuclear deployment advances

ICBMAt a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Minsk, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin signed documents allowing Russian tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed on Belarusian territory. Shoigu and Khrenin cited a "sharp escalation of threats on the western border of Russia and Belarus." Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union in Moscow, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko implied to an interviewer that the nuclear weapons may "already" be stationed in Belarus. The European Union responded to the signing with a statement condemning the agreement, calling it "a step which will lead to further extremely dangerous escalation." (Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense via BAS)

Europe

What is the Freedom of Russia Legion?

Legion of FreedomFighters in armored vehicles crossed into Russia from Ukrainian territory and seized a town in Belgorod oblast. They were only driven out after Russian forces responded with fighter planes and artillery. Two groups claimed responsibility for the raid, both said to be made up of Russians who are fighting for Ukraine. One is the self-proclaimed Freedom of Russia Legion, which released a video message to coincide with the attack, calling on Russians to take up arms "to put an end to the Kremlin's dictatorship." The other is the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), characterized as far-right nationalists—although this does raise the question of why they are fighting for Ukraine. (Image: LvivMedia via YouTube)

Europe

Russia withdraws from Conventional Forces Treaty

Red SquareIn a declaration signed by President Vladimir Putin, Russia announced its withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the 1990 pact hailed as the "cornerstone of European security." The treaty limits the contracting parties, including most European powers and the United States, to no more than 20,000 tanks, 20,000 artillery units, 30,000 armored vehicles, 6,800 warplanes and 2,000 attack helicopters. This marks a further development in Russia's divergence from international norms since launching its war in Ukraine. This February, exactly a year since the start of the invasion, Moscow announced its withdrawal from the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the US. (Image: Vitaly Kuzmin via CBRNPro.net)

Europe

Putin design to rebuild Russian Empire: blatanter and blatanter

KremlinLithuania, Latvia and Estonia reacted with outrage after China's ambassador in Paris appeared to question the sovereignty not only of Ukraine, but all the former Soviet republics, saying they "do not have an effective status in international law." Fearing diplomatic censure, Beijing's Foreign Ministry backpedalled, releasing a statement saying: "China respects the sovereign status of former Soviet republics " But such sentiments are fast gaining an alarming currency in Russian political circles. A commentator for pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda opined that "according to the Ukrainian scenario, we have an historical right" to Russian-inhabited lands of Kazakhstan. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, tweeted a call for Ukraine to "DISAPPEAR" (in caps), and referred to the country as "Malorossiya" (Little Russia)—a term from the empire of the czars for territories outside Great Russia (Russia proper). (Photo: Wikipedia)

Europe

Podcast: Belarus and nuclear escalation

BelarusIn Episode 167 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines Putin's plans to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The Russian strongman's dubious justification for the move is the UK's decision to supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine. Depleted uranium is indeed sinister stuff—but Russia itself has been already using DU weapons in Ukraine for over a year now! Russia's reckless occupation of the Zaporizhzhia power plant also represents a far more serious escalation on the ladder of nuclear terror than the use of DU. Putin further claims he is merely countering the NATO tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Europe. But NATO's warheads are stored in underground vaults, to be loaded onto plane-dropped gravity bombs if the Alliance makes a decision for their use. In contrast, Moscow has already placed nuclear-capable tactical missiles in Belarus—as well as in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, bordering NATO members Poland and Lithuania. If these were armed with warheads, it would represent a dramatic escalation in hair-trigger readiness. Additionally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has now broached actually having Russian strategic ICBMs placed in his country. The civil opposition in Belarus has been effectively crushed in a wave of mass repression over the past three years—but an underground resistance movement is now emerging. This struggle finds itself on the frontline of the very question of human survival. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map via PCL Map Collection)  

Planet Watch

Doomsday clock moves, Russia nixes talks

doomsday clockThe Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, citing the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. The press release announcing the move spared no criticism for Russia, excoriating Moscow for breaking its commitment to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and borders in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, and violating international protocols by bringing its war to the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear plants. The statement also expressed alarm over Russia's repeated implicit threats to unleash nuclear war. The statement nonetheless called on the United States to "keep the door open to principled engagement with Moscow that reduces the dangerous increase in nuclear risk." However, Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov responded to the statement by rejecting any imminent return to the negotiating table: "Right now we can only state that the prospects for stepping on a diplomatic path are not visible at present." (Image: BAS)

Europe
Munich

Podcast: Donbas = Sudetenland

In Episode 143 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the all too telling irony that Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Donbas region came on exactly the same day as the 1938 Munich Agreement, which approved Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland region. Russian… Read morePodcast: Donbas = Sudetenland

Planet Watch
doomsday

Nuclear war would cause global starvation: study

AssamThe government of India announced that it has signed a peace agreement with the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), an insurgent group in the northeastern state of Manipur. The ZUF was established in 2011 to advance the interests of the Zeliangrong tribe, a sub-group within the Naga ethnicity. Its main goal was to establish a separate administrative unit consisting of all the areas inhabited by the tribe. The ZUF carried out numerous attacks against security forces to pressure the government to accept its demands. Insurgency continues to wrack the volatile northeastern region of India, where various separatist and left-wing groups raise demands for autonomy or independence. (Map via TFI Post)